‘World’s first plastic-free aisle’ puts May’s plan to test
A DUTCH company has launched the “world’s first plastic-free aisle”, which could put Theresa May’s proposal for British supermarkets to the test.
Ekoplaza, an organic chain, opens its “Ekoplaza Lab” in Amsterdam today, in collaboration with A Plastic Planet, a British campaign group.
Instead of plastic light fittings, there are lampshades reclaimed from other stores, metal-and-wood shelves and cardboard labels. But most importantly, all 700 products, from fresh meat to lentils, are wrapped in compostable biomaterials.
“This is not tokenism,” said Sian Sutherland, a co-founder of A Plastic Planet and a partner in the initiative. “This goes all the way, and I feel the public is ready. Plastic is a miracle material, but we are throwing it into our fields and oceans. In food and drink packaging, let’s use materials that nature can handle.”
The launch is the first step to making Ekoplaza’s 74 stores plastic-free – potentially next year – to help combat packaging pollution that, according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, will lead to more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
It is thought to be the first major test case of Mrs May’s proposal for plasticsfree aisles in UK stores, to end the “immense suffering” of sea creatures when they eat or are entangled in non-biodegradable plastic.
Erik Does, the managing director of Ekoplaza, said the biomaterials zone was a conscious policy, not a marketing stunt. “A plastic-free aisle is a nice visual step in a process we’ve been engaged with for years,” he said. “Plastic soup [ocean waste] is a huge problem, that we are very conscious of as a business. Not only in our stores but also in wholesale trade, we avoid plastic wherever possible. However, only with our suppliers can we move to a plastic-free supermarket.”
In Britain, Richard Walker, the managing director of Iceland, who is leading the supermarket’s campaign to eliminate single-use plastics by 2023 – is watching closely and planning to talk to Ekoplaza about its experiment, a spokesman confirmed.
Meanwhile, Ekoplaza suppliers such as compostable cellophane maker Futamura – whose wrappers encase Quality Street sweets – are hopeful. “In the end, customers see what the retailers put on the shelves,” said Andy Sweetman, Futamura’s marketing manager. “The creation of the so-called plasticsfree aisle is a potential game-changer in the adoption of readily renewable and compostable biomaterials.”
Sutherland said that after the Blue Planet II documentary series brought the pollution issue to a mass audience consumers wanted action.
“Supermarkets talk to me about the Blue Planet effect,” she said. “The world is ready and consumers want change.” ♦ Pret A Manger will become the first UK coffee chain to run a pilot deposit scheme for plastic bottles. From April, Pret’s Brighton branch will add a 10p surcharge to all drinks sold in plastic bottles. The money will be given back when the bottle is returned.
Louise Edge, a senior oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, welcomed the move but said a Uk-wide deposit scheme, supported by government, was needed “to make a real dent in our plastics problem”.