For the last year, many Aldi Specialbuys not sold by the grocer have been given a second chance to find a buyer thanks to a partnership between the supermarket chain and The Salvation Army.
Aldi has been working with the charity’s trading arm, SATCoL, for 12 months, and the supermarket chain’s unsold products procured by SATCoL have helped the charity raise £350,000 through its own store network.
A fresh two-year partnership after the success of the last 12 months will involve Salvation Army stores across the country getting hold of previously unsold, non-food Aldi Specialbuys, such as kitchen accessories, home furnishings and clothing, at a reduced cost.
The charity stores will then resell the supermarket’s products, with profits going towards its ongoing work to support the most vulnerable in the community and services for the homeless, elderly, and families.
Aldi has not talked up the partnership as a sustainability play per se, but Luke Emery, national sustainability director at Aldi, is the spokesperson for the project. And unsold products from any retail chain can often end up in the waste system, so efforts to redistribute them make sense from an enviornmental perspective.
“We’re committed to doing all that we can to support our local communities and it’s great to be able to support The Salvation Army stock their stores,” Emery noted.
“We know the profits raised will provide vital funds for the charity to continue its ongoing work to support those who need it most across the country.”
Kirk Bradley, head of corporate partnerships at The Salvation Army, commented: “This partnership will contribute to providing a vital funding source for our charity as well as great quality products to our customers across the UK.”
Aldi has an existing partnership with Neighbourly that sees surplus food from all its stores get redirected to hundreds of charities across the country. Aldi has donated more than 40 million meals to local communities since unveiling its food donations scheme in 2019.
Read more about Aldi on Green Retail World
[image credit: Green Retail World]
