Aldi is removing ‘use by’ dates from milk bottles to prevent milk from being thrown away unnecessarily and cut food waste.
The supermarket’s sustainability director Liz Fox said Aldi is “constantly working to be a more sustainable retailer and we are dedicated to preventing food waste wherever we can, both in our stores and helping customers throw away less food at home.”
According to waste reduction charity WRAP, nearly 300,000 tonnes of milk is wasted by UK households each year, with half of households stating that the reason for pouring it away is due to it not being consumed by the use by date.
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As milk can be safe to use past its Best Before date – provided it has been stored properly and doesn’t smell bad – Aldi will encourage shoppers to perform a ‘sniff test’ to determine whether their milk is still fine to consume.
The supermarket has already removed Best Before dates from around 60 fresh fruit and vegetable lines – including apples and pears, citrus fruits, potatoes, carrots and onions – and earlier this year rolled out its partnership with food surplus app Too Good To Go nationwide.
Aldi also recently introduced clear caps on its milk bottles to improve recyclability.
Elsewhere, Tesco is to stop selling six-pint own-brand bottles of milk in a bid to reduce waste.
The bottles are no longer available on the leading Tesco’s website as it has begun “phasing out” the products across its stores, The Mirror reported.
