For the first time, Aldi Süd is selling beer in reusable bottles. Several branches are part of the experiment.
- Aldi Süd starts test phase in selected branches.
- The discounter now sells beer in reusable bottles .
- The innovation should result in less waste and protect the environment.
Munich - Aldi Süd will surprise customers with a fundamental change from February. The discounter now offers beer in reusable bottles in selected branches in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. In a test phase, it should be clarified how customers will accept the changeover.
Less waste, better environmental protection - that is what Aldi Süd hopes for from the introduction of reusable bottles. So far, consumers could only buy disposable bottles in Aldi stores. A deposit of 25 cents is charged on PET bottles and cans. Now the supermarket chain also offers Pils and Kölsch in reusable bottles.
Aldi Süd: Beer bottle test phase in selected branches
For the first time, the discounters are testing the sale of beer in reusable bottles in individual branches *. Several supermarkets in Aachen and Stuttgart are now selling 20-liter beer crates with 0.5-liter glass bottles. The deposit is also charged on the price of 13.79 euros.
Aldi Süd * initially offers the sale of reusable bottles for selected beers . As the "Lebensmittel Zeitung" reports, they are beers from the Krombacher, Bitburger and Früh Kölsch brands . "We can confirm that we are currently running a test with reusable goods," Krombacher told the world. Bitburger also confirmed the test phase. "We have always been pro reusable and are happy about every dealer who offers at least one selection," said Bitburger Managing Director Axel Dahm to the world.
Aldi Süd: returnable instead of deposit?
In the future, other types of beverages could also be sold at the discounter Aldi Süd * as reusable. In the next step, Aldi could also offer mineral water and soft drinks in reusable bottles .
The introduction of reusable bottles means more work for the supermarkets in day-to-day logistics in the branches. The test phase in the Aldi branches * should now be used to optimize the work processes. For example, employees in the test branches should first keep the deposit empties at the cash register and then carry them to the warehouse.
Reusable beer bottles from Penny, Netto & Co.
Other discounters like Netto and Penny are much further ahead. Penny has been selling beer in reusable bottles for some time now. Competitor Netto has also switched various products to reusable bottles after initial tests.
Aldi Süd: Politicians made pressure - avoid packaging waste
The discounter also receives pressure from politicians. The measures formulated by the federal government to avoid packaging waste stipulate that more beverage packaging should be recycled instead of ending up in residual waste.
The Packaging Act also prescribes a reusable quota of 70 percent. According to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), however, the average value is currently only 42.2 percent. This value is primarily determined by the breweries, which fill their beer in approximately 82 percent in returnable bottles. It is 38 percent for mineral water and only 23 percent for soft drinks.
Reusable beer bottles at Aldi - that's the advantage
The advantage of reusable bottles is clearly the rate of refilling. Reusable glass or plastic bottles are reused about 50 times and are therefore considered a more environmentally friendly alternative. In comparison: disposable bottles are filled only once and melted down after returning them to the supermarket.
While a deposit of 25 cents is charged for PET bottles and cans, the deposit price for returnable bottles is 15 cents. Consumers only pay a deposit of eight cents for reusable beer bottles.
* merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network
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