The six ways that supermarkets can act on plastic
On WEDNESDAY of last week, the national Sick of Plastic Campaign announced a day of action on supermarket packaging on Saturday 21 April next. On that day campaigners are asking people to ‘Shop and Drop’, shop as normal in your local supermarket and then take off the excess plastic packaging at the checkout and leave it with the cashier.
Volunteers will hand out postcards and talk to shoppers outside supermarkets. People can hand in the postcards outlining six ways supermarkets can reduce unwanted plastic packaging.
Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth said: ‘People are just sick of plastic. And sick of having more and more of it dumped on us by retailers who make us responsible for trying to recycle it. Far too much of our fruit and vegetables are packed and wrapped in plastic, for example.
‘We’re hoping people will use this Day of Action on April 21 to show supermarkets that we want them to act.’
The campaign has written to the big supermarket chains with six proposals on how they can reduce plastic:
1. Offer more items without packaging, such as fruit and vegetables (without plastic trays, wrapping and nets) and fresh bread.
2. Ensure their own brand packaging is easily compostable or recyclable and uses less plastic.
3. Demand, through your own purchasing power, that brands you carry have easily compostable or recyclable packaging and use less plastic.
4. Blaze a trail in Ireland by implementing a plastic free aisle, as has been done in the Netherlands.
5. Set up systems whereby consumers can buy items in bulk, to reduce packaging, like in the Dublin Food Coop.
6. Follow in the footsteps of Fallon and Byrne and set up a system whereby customers can use their own containers to buy dried goods, buying only what they need.
Marion Briggs, the volunteer National Coordinator of the Day of Action, said: ‘Shows such as Blue Planet II and the news that there’ll be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050 have highlighted the adverse impact plastic has on our natural environment and wildlife. We’ve reached a tipping point. We’re going to do something about it. And we’re demanding supermarkets do too.’
For further information and a downloadable FAQ sheet on the sick of plastic campaign and the day of action on supermarket packaging, go to http://bit.ly/SOP_FAQ.