PLASTIC WAR
Lidl is PAYING customers to return plastic bottles in huge supermarket trial – check if your store is on the list
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LIDL will start paying customers to return plastic bottles and cans as part of a major trial.
The discounter, which runs over 960 UK stores, will give shoppers 5p for each vessel returned via in-store vending machines.
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The money can then be converted into a voucher for use in Lidl or donated to the STV Children’s Appeal charity.
There's no limit on the amount customers can earn from returning items.
The supermarket is rolling out the scheme across 21 Glasgow stores from today as part of a trial, with scope for it to be extended further.
Lidl said the trial would see 10.5 tonnes of plastic and aluminium recycled every month.
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Richard Bourns, chief commercial officer at Lidl GB, said with no cap on the amount customers can earn, the trial was a "win-win" for customers and the retailer.
He added: "We’re on a mission to eliminate all unnecessary waste, and with over 95% of our own-brand packaging now recyclable, reusable, or refillable we’ve been making great progress."
The full list of Glasgow stores where the trial is being rolled out is:
- Maryhill
- Duke Street
- St. Rollox
- Baillieston
- Crookston
- Darnley
- Tollcross
- Govan
- Bearsden
- Pollokshaws
- Balmore Road
- Jamaica Street
- Victoria Road
- Rutherglen
- Partick
- Yoker
- Giffnock
- Finnieston
- Barrhead
- Robroyston Retail Park
- Anniesland
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Lidl said shoppers can only return plastic bottles and cans that are clean and uncrushed.
The machines also only accept drinks packaging made from either polyethylene terephthalate (or PET plastic) or aluminium and between 100ml and three litres in size with a readable barcode.
Dairy items, such as HDPE plastic milk or yoghurt drinks, Tetra-pack, paper-based cartons, glass or pouches can't be returned.
It is the first time in the UK a supermarket has rolled out such a scheme across an entire city.
Tesco rolled out a similar trial in 2018 but only across selected stores, while Aldi launched one in Scotland in 2021 but just at one branch.
We have asked both retailers if these schemes still operate and will update this story when we have heard back.
It comes as a number of supermarkets, including Lidl, introduce waste-reduction changes across stores in a bid to help the environment.
A number of retailers have started removing different coloured milk caps in a bid to reduce wastage.
Lidl, Asda, Aldi, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's have all implemented the move.
Tesco said the new caps can be recycled back into milk bottles which the retailer said will see an extra 3,900 tonnes of plastic recycled.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury's has been rolling out cardboard-only punnets on its mushroom products in a bid to reduce plastic usage.
In 2020, it removed plastic trays from its tomatoes and the year before on asparagus.
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The Government also has plans to roll out a deposit return scheme by 2025 whereby millions will get cash back for putting recycling in reverse vending machines.
Ministers hope the move will take millions of pieces of rubbish out of lakes, rivers and beaches in a boost for the environment.
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