Aldi further cements British ties with £2m RSPB partnership
Discount retailer Aldi has ramped up its partnership strategy, inking a three-year deal with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
From next month, the supermarket will donate all profits from carrier bag sales throughout England and Wales to the RSPB while proceeds from sales in Scotland will be donated from the January 2016 onwards. Prices currently range from 3p for a plastic carrier bag – increasing to 5p next month - to 99p for a canvas shopper bag.
Giles Hurley, managing director of corporate buying at Aldi, said: “We are proud to have been among the first supermarkets to charge for carrier bags. This approach helps encourage responsible usage among customers."
Profits from Aldi’s carrier bag sales in England and Wales are expected to see the charity get donations in excess of £2m. The money raised will be used to create 25 RSPB ‘Giving Nature a Home’ gardens in schools across England.
Aldi said the gardens will provide over half a million children to learn and connect with nature.
“Our partnership will leave a long-lasting legacy; a generation of children who are connected to nature, benefit from it, value our wildlife and care and understand enough about it to make a real difference,” Hurley added.
Martin Harper, the RSPB’s conservation director, added: “Through engaging with communities who live, work and shop in or around Aldi stores we can make a real difference, together.”
It comes after Aldi recently became the first grocery sponsor of Team GB in the run up to the 2016 Olympics.
"They are a great and growing British employer and are championing British produce and suppliers,” said Lord Coe, chairman of the British Olympic Association said of the £10m deal at the time.