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Lidl will be the first UK supermarket to stop using black plastic across its entire fruit and vegetable range, saving an estimated 50 tonnes of black plastic waste a year.

The retailer announced this week that will remove black plastic, which is not recyclable in the UK, from products including mushrooms, baby sweetcorn, asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower, by the end of this month.

The chain has also pledged to stop using black plastic on its fresh meat, fish and poultry range by August next year.

The move is one of a number of steps that the retailer is taking as part of its plastic reduction strategy.

In addition to cutting plastic packaging by 20 per cent across its own-label products, Lidl UK said it was committed to ensuring that, where it is necessary to protect food, 100 per cent of its own-label packaging will be widely recyclable, reusable or refillable.

Lidl is continuing to test and trial more loose fruit and veg across its fresh produce range, and is in the process of trialling the removal of packaging from onions, cabbages and lettuces.

Black plastic packaging is not recyclable in the UK, as it cannot be detected by the sorting systems used for plastic recycling.

Lidl is continuing to test and trial more loose fruit and veg across its fresh produce range, and is in the process of trialling the removal of packaging from onions, cabbages and lettuces.

Ryan McDonnell, Lidl’s commercial board director, said in a statement: “This significant move away from black plastic demonstrates our dedication to tackling this important topic.

“We recognise the current challenge that black plastic presents to the recycling industry, which is why we have made it our priority to remove it from our fresh ranges.

“As part of our commitment to achieving our ambitious targets, we are continually exploring opportunities to cut our packaging, and where packaging is necessary to protect food and minimise food waste, we will ensure that it is reusable, refillable or recyclable.”