I can’t believe it’s NOT plastic!
We visit the world’s first plastic free supermarket aisle where packaging made from sugar and wood pulp has shoppers gasping...
OF aLL the hundreds of products on display in the world’s first ‘plastic-free’ supermarket aisle last week, the one attracting most interest was a glossy pack of fat, pink sausages. It wasn’t because of their arresting colour, or the fact the sausages were sold only in pairs, rather than as a string. But because their packaging — a shiny, green base and pad for the sausages to nestle on, transparent cover, and sticky label — looked suspiciously, well, plastic.
Many customers were querying what was on offer — or even complaining. They simply couldn’t believe that among the shiny salad bags, tomato punnets, transparent sacks of potatoes and carrots, and rows of packets of rice, muesli and crisps — a little plastic hadn’t snuck in.
But no, all the packaging in the aisle launched in a branch of the Dutch health food chain ekoplaza in amsterdam last Wednesday — is plastic-free, either made from sustainably sourced raw materials such as starch, sugar and wood pulp, or more conventional glass, paper and cardboard. and it all keeps the food inside just as fresh as plastic.
‘The meat trays are our pride and joy!’ beams Marco, 44, the handsome sales assistant, wearing a black shirt emblazoned with ‘I’m ready for change’. ‘They were very difficult to get right. everyone finds them very surprising.’
The aisle was created with the help of two entrepreneurial London mums, Sian Sutherland and Frederikke Magnussen. a year ago they launched a Plastic Planet, a campaign group which aims to reduce single-use plastic in the food industry — and together they have ignited a movement that could dramatically change how manufacturers package food and how we shop for it.
Last week’s launch attracted TV and newspaper journalists from around the world.
It has also sent supermarket executives in Britain into a spin. While the Brits have dithered and Theresa May has made vague promises of plastic-free aisles ‘at some stage’ in the future, erik Does, ekoplaza’s chief executive saw the potential immediately and seized the chance to work with Sian and Frederikke. It took just six months for them to source more than 700 suitafrom ble products to get the dedicated aisle up and running — and at no extra cost to customers.
Take those sausages; each pack costs the equivalent of just 1p more to produce than the plastic-wrapped alternative — a cost absorbed by ekoplaza.
Best of all, when the packaging is placed in a food compost bin, it will break down to water, carbon dioxide and other organic waste in just 12 weeks.
Similarly compostable are the salad bags and potato sacks (exactly the right density to prevent moisture turning the potatoes green, I learn). Made from dextrose, a sugar derived from corn, sugar cane or sugar beet, they are only marginally more expensive than their plastic equivalents which clog up our oceans and destroy marine life — as highlighted by the Daily Mail’s acclaimed ten-year campaign, Turn The Tide On Plastic.
In 2016 in Britain, the last year for which figures are available, we bought products swathed in a staggering 1,119,000 tonnes of plastic waste, of which less than half was collected for recycling. The rest was landfilled, burned or washed up in the sea.
One shopper at ekoplaza last week, Sandrine, a government worker, was particularly taken by the ‘selophane’ on the boxes of tea. ‘I put them back at first as I didn’t believe they weren’t plastic,’ she says.
Once persuaded that the packaging really isn’t plastic, the next question asked by customers, including Nina from Sweden, is: ‘If the packaging can break down in just 12 weeks, isn’t there a risk it will do so with our food still in it?
The answer is ‘No’. It only starts breaking down when it’s in a moist, warm compost bin.
Sian, 57, is a glamorous and energetic woman who ran multi-million pound beauty range Mama Mio. after lending her executive skills to the launch of the 2014 film, The Plastic Soup, about our polluted oceans, Sian vowed to do something more about it.
a year ago she and Frederikke Magnussen, 45, a Danish documentary film-maker, set up a Plastic Planet together in London.
The goal is to ‘turn off the tap’ on plastic and wean us off singleuse food packaging plastic.
‘ We wanted to show that convenience is not synonymous with plastic.
‘We wanted to change supermarkets, not corner shops,’ says Sian, who sports blue-tipped hair and colourful designer clothes.
It was back in July last year that they commissioned a survey which found that 90 per cent of British shoppers wanted the option of a plastic-free aisle, and it spurred them into action.
‘It’s crazy that I can buy fat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and sugarfree when I do my supermarket shop, but I can’t opt for plastic free, Sian says. ‘We want to give people a choice.’
So ever since, she and Frederikke have been meeting plastics experts, materials scientists, environmentalists and supermarket executives to learn all they can about the ever-expanding list of viable alternatives to single-use plastic packaging.
There are certainly plenty of options out there, some of which are already in circulation.
Waitrose, for example, sells a tomato punnet made from the stems and leaves of the tomato plant. Multi- coloured Quality Street wrappers are now plasticfree — made from biomaterials. Carlsberg lager has developed a prototype beer bottle made out of pressed grass. Yes, grass!
and recently, a Dutch company has created a shampoo bottle made from algae.
ALL of which is exciting and promising — but such biomaterials don’t yet enjoy the economies of scale of single-use plastic. Which is why good old-fashioned glass, cardboard, metal and paper — all of which are recyclable — are making a comeback, too.
‘an aluminium can will be 70 per cent of recycled material,’ says Sian. ‘Whereas, unless it is burned — and that creates a toxicity of its own — plastic will exist for ever on our planet.’
However, as I work down my shopping list in ekoplaza, I discover a drawback. all milk, yoghurts and juices are in glass bottles ( subject to a 50 cent returnable deposit), which certainly makes for heavier shopping baskets.
and because it’s heavier, glass costs more in fuel to transport than plastic cartons and bottles, but ekoplaza hopes to offset this by using electric lorries.
There are also no canned goods in the aisle because all cans have a plastic lining (the baked beans, tomatoes and sweetcorn are in glass jars).
Sian says they are working on this: ‘ When we remove this, and the plastic lining that many glass jars have inside the lid, it will make a huge change at no inconvenience to the shopper.’
For the purposes of a family shop, the ‘ aisle’ — actually a small, self- contained shop attached to the main ekoplaza store — doesn’t quite cut it yet for the consumer who is used to being spoilt for choice. There are only three types of bread, no cheese or butter
and no deli — plastic-free wrappers are still in development — but that will all change fast, says Sian.
‘We wanted to show that it can be done now — not in five years,’ she adds.
Every time a new non-plastic alternative becomes available, they add it to their stock. By the end of the year, every one of Ekoplaza’s 74 shops will have a plasticfree aisle.
Meanwhile, Sian and Fredderikke are looking to get the UK in on the act.
‘This is a moment in time — and the Daily Mail has been hugely responsible for this. And we have the opportunity to make things happen,’ Sian says. ‘All the supermarket bosses say things are changing.’ Indeed. Several British supermarkets are already involved in pilot projects with A Plastic Planet.
The goal is to show that the option of going plastic-free ‘isn’t just for rich people’ and that it makes for affordable shopping.
Online plastic-free shopping is also in their sights — ‘just tick “plastic-free”,’ says Sian — along with a comprehensive collection and recycling system, as plastic-free aisles are pointless if there is no effective system in place.
Glass, cardboard, paper and metals are widely recycled, but a survey by waste consultancy Eunomia last week found that official figures overstate the quantity of plastic packaging sent for recycling by about a third.
Outside Wales — which has the UK’s best recycling record, there is little continuity. For example, every London borough has different criteria. Biomaterials will need their own recycling pick-up along with food compost. Currently, just 10 per cent of British food waste is composted.
Despite their ambition, Sian and Frederikke are realistic. Between them they have eight children, aged eight to 25, and they understand how hard it is for families to change the way they live and go single-use plastic free. To start with, they recommend making one or two small changes at a time.
‘Start with cling film. Give it up now, please,’ Sian says. ‘It’s the worst kind of plastic — completely unrecyclable!’
Back at Ekoplaza in Amsterdam, business is steady — and every day, more and more shoppers arrive, armed with recyclable bags, strong arms and a burning need to put things right.