Is Aldi ethical? (sustainability, wages + procurement)
In the early 1900s, a new movement emerged: as fewer and fewer people farmed their own food and relied on food manufacturing to support their families, the first seedlings interested in the source of their dinner were planted.
Today, it’s an all-encompassing desire for ethical and sustainable awareness in our grocery stores, and as Aldi’s presence in the U.S. grows, more and more Americans are wondering: Is Aldi ethical? Well, here’s the information you need.
Is Aldi ethical?
Aldi adheres to high ethical standards and in many ways the company has been successful. Practices such as sourcing food locally, reducing energy consumption and paying staff well above the minimum wage show that Aldi takes its commitment to operating ethically seriously. No supermarket is perfect, but Aldi is always striving to do better.
To find out more about Aldi’s eco-friendly approach, how the company sources some of its most popular foods and a breakdown of how they treat their staff, read on!
Is Aldi environmentally friendly?
You might think that a company like Aldi, which sells products at deep discounts, would be cutting corners when it comes to the environment. How can they price items so low?
You’ll be glad to know that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are some of the ways Aldi is actively working to become a more ethical company.
Sustainable Development Charter
For example, Aldi recently released a Sustainability Charter outlining their ‘Green Vision’, which includes diverting 90% of operational waste by 2025, reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, and turning greenhouses into greenhouses by 2018. Gas emissions are reduced by 26%. 2025.
Additionally, the company wants to make 100% of its own-label packaging recyclable or compostable by 2025, and to improve the sustainability of its sourcing practices (more on that below).
Green Building
Aldi has also embraced green building practices, installing its first wind turbine outside its warehouse in Dwight, Illinois. The turbines provide clean energy and up to 40% of the warehouse’s electricity.
The stores themselves have either been built with LED lighting or have been retrofitted with electricity savings, more energy-efficient coolers, and even solar-powered roofs.
current operating practice
Aldi has trained its staff and customers to work at peak efficiency, which not only helps cut costs.
Some of Aldi’s price cuts are also good for the environment. For example, charging for bags encourages shoppers to carry their reusable, decoupage and plastic usage.
Aldi has also limited their opening hours to only allow people to shop between 9am and 8pm or 9pm, reducing the amount of electricity used by each store.
Finally, while I touched on some specific green building features installed in new stores, Aldi stores have always been smaller than supermarkets, with less warehouse space in the back, reducing utility and grid consumption.
Where does Aldi source and produce fresh meat?
Knowing where your meat comes from is a big deal, as there have long been shady procurement practices.
However, a lot of Aldi beef actually comes from local cattle farms.
The positive moral of this is twofold: Aldi not only supports local and regional farmers who desperately need a financial boost, but by sourcing closer to individual stores, they reduce the amount of transport (and transport materials) needed to get their meat from farm to store.
Fewer miles driven by a large semi-trailer means less fossil fuel consumption and fewer fuel emissions.
Likewise, some Aldi stores are able to source produce from local farms.
However, not all of Aldi’s fresh meat and produce comes from the immediate area, or even from the US. However, according to FDA regulations, foods that do not originate in the United States will clearly indicate on the label which country they were imported from.
Is Aldi seafood ethical?
Aldi encountered some bad press in 2017 when shoppers learned that seafood sold in the store, particularly salmon, may have been processed by North Koreans working in factories in China, essentially as slave labour.
Not only that, but the meager wages that workers get are stolen by the North Korean government, so only a small part goes to employees, and most of it goes to North Korea’s nuclear missile program.
However, I’m happy to say that since then, Aldi has cleaned up their act when it comes to seafood sourcing.
The Ocean Disclosure Project, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to monitoring this, shows the location of many of the fisheries associated with Aldi and includes information on how well they are being managed and where improvements can be made.
For example, there are two entries for sockeye salmon, both from U.S. fisheries and both designated as “well managed.” In the notes section, the site even lists the sources they received the information from.
If you’re interested in taking a closer look at where your supermarket seafood comes from, and not just through Aldi, I recommend checking it out here.
How does Aldi treat its employees?
Finally, we also have to look at how Aldi treats its employees, as this is a bit complicated and up for debate.
Aldi pays its employees well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25; part-time stockists in my area start at $11.25 an hour.
Management salaries are great and Aldi’s benefits package is generous with cheap health care plans and ample PTO/vacation.
However, Aldi is notorious for letting its employees earn every penny. According to a Mashed article, “The grocer has a reputation among employees for working to burnout.”
In addition, employees complained that Aldi interfered with their lives on their days off and wanted them to put work first.
These are all perfectly credible allegations, but so far I have not seen any indication that Aldi is doing anything to address these complaints.
On the other hand, while the supermarket chain is not directly employed by Aldi, it has made strenuous efforts to ensure that workers employed by international suppliers work in ethical conditions (perhaps beset by the collapse of North Korea? ).
Aldi’s corporate responsibility website addresses these concerns, citing their social monitoring program and specific issues related to Bangladesh, where workers at a garment factory staged a sit-in protest in 2015 to secure wages they had been illegally denied.
Aldi ended its relationship with the factory a year ago, but the link between the two is still fresh enough to warrant a formal response from the two parent companies, Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud.
This has certainly raised Aldi US’s awareness of the impact of sourcing textile imports through Bangladeshi suppliers. Since then, there have been no adverse reports.
To learn more, you might also be interested in reading 23 Aldi Statistics, Facts and Trends, Aldi’s Competitive Advantages and 17 Reasons Why Aldi Is So Cheap.
in conclusion
Aldi is constantly and innovatively working to improve ethical operations, whether through regional and local food sourcing, green building practices or fair pay.
Aldi has clearly set itself lofty environmental goals, a noble cause we all want to achieve, but based on my research, the company should also be looking inward to help its employees achieve a better work/life balance.
