Aldi breaks with trade association CBL's opposition to deposits

Aldi declared on Thursday morning that it is ‘not opposed’ to deposits on the radio programme De Ochtendspits on BNR Nieuwsradio. In its ALDI Press Statement on circular economy and litter, Aldi also praises the effectiveness of the current deposit system for large bottles: “This limits CO2 emissions and Aldi achieves significant savings on the costs of storage and transport”, says the German supermarket chain.

“With this, the very big player Aldi is making a completely different statement than the Central Bureau for Food Trade (CBL). Aldi is going against the negativity of their own federation with a powerful signal. It is clear that the CBL did not consult the supermarkets properly,” says Rob Buurman.

BNR Nieuwsradio also notes that Aldi is a “mutinous member” of the CBL. Given the decades-long resistance of the supermarket lobby against deposit schemes, this is indeed an important breakthrough. “Just before the deposit debate in the House of Representatives, this is breaking news,” Rob Buurman of Recycling Netwerk reacted immediately during the broadcast.

The Central Bureau for Food Trade (CBL), the trade association for supermarkets, claimed in its written submission for the Roundtable discussion that ‘much higher costs are involved’ than CE Delft calculated on behalf of the government. However, the CBL did not present things fairly, because CE Delft did take into account the necessary renovation costs at supermarkets in its calculations, something that the CBL denied.

In the House of Representatives, the Roundtable discussion on the Plastic Chain and Litter starts today at 1 p.m. “Members of the House of Representatives now know that at least one supermarket chain no longer shares the CBL's unjustified criticism of deposits. Even renowned opponent Coca-Cola says it is “neither for nor against deposits”. Under public pressure, a shift is therefore taking place within the business community,” Rob Buurman notes.

Only yesterday, a poll by NHpeilt showed that more than 90 percent of Dutch people are calling for deposits. In the RTL Nieuws poll on Monday, 77 percent were in favour.

Rob Buurman: “Deposits are the most effective tool against litter. The majority of the population is asking for it. And one of the largest supermarket chains plus the largest soft drink manufacturer have ceased their resistance. What more does an MP need to support this?”.

Environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk congratulates Aldi on this first step. In the summer of this year, Aldi already made positive headlines by voluntarily stopping the sale of plastic bags in its shops. “I think Aldi has seen that their decision to remove plastic bags from supermarkets has generated very good publicity,” says Buurman.

The fact that Aldi, the German supermarket chain with 507 shops in the Netherlands and a customer base of 4.2 million households, is breaking away from the CBL lobby is also exactly what we hoped for with the #Backtosender campaign, Buurman explains. The campaign in which people send bottles and cans back to the manufacturers is a huge success: as many as 4,500 products have been sent ‘back to sender’ via Twitter after two weeks. “We are very grateful to all the people participating in #backtosender. Their concrete actions are already setting one supermarket chain in motion,” Rob Buurman concludes.