Discount grocer Aldi has signed a three-year deal with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. From next month, the charitable retailer is set to donate all profits from carrier bag sales from across England and Wales to the RSPB. Scotland will follow, donating profits from January 2016 onwards.
Carrier bag charges are currently 3p for a plastic carrier bag, which will increase to 5p next month and 99p for canvas shopper bags. The profits from Aldi‘s bag sales are expected to provide the charity with donations that exceed £2m.
Giles Hurley, Managing Director of Corporate Buying at Aldi, said: “We are proud to have been among the first supermarkets to charge for carrier bags. This approach helps encourage responsible usage among customers.”
“Our partnership will leave a long-lasting legacy; a generation of children who are connected to nature, benefit from it, value our wildlife and care and understand enough about it to make a real difference,” Hurley added.
In addition the new partnership will also work to connect 500,000 children with nature through “Giving Nature a Home” gardens in 25 schools across the UK. The project is intended to give children hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to connect with nature.
Martin Harper, the RSPB‘s Conservation Director, added: “Through engaging with communities who live, work and shop in or around Aldi stores we can make a real difference, together.”
The future is promising for the German discounter as this new venture follows its appointment as the first grocery sponsor of Team GB in the oncoming 2016 Olympics.
Lord Coe, Chairman of the British Olympic Association said, “They are a great and growing British employer and are championing British produce and suppliers”.
Talya Misiri
