SUPERMARKET giant Aldi is preparing to trial reusable bags in Cumbria for loose fruit and vegetables in an effort to cut single-use plastics.

At the end of the month, more than 60 stores across the county will offer the bags as a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastic.

The drawstring bags are made from recycled plastic bottles and will be sold for 25p each.

This is the supermarket’s latest step to reduce unnecessary plastic as it works towards reducing plastic packaging by 25% by the end of 2023.

If introduced nationally, the initiative will remove the equivalent of 113 tonnes of single-use plastic from circulation each year.

Aldi is on track to have all own-label packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022. Since 2018, it has removed more than 550 tonnes of plastic and replaced almost 3,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material with recyclable alternatives.

Fritz Walleczek, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi, said: “We are committed to cutting the amount of plastic that Aldi and our customers use, particularly excess or single-use plastic like produce bags.

“We are hopeful that our customers in Cumbria will embrace these new reusable produce bags whenever they’re buying loose fruit and veg and, together, we will be able to take more than 100 tonnes of plastic a year out of circulation.”