Plastic attacks wage war on supermarkets’ waste
SUPERMARKETS in Oban came under plastic attack from campaigning shoppers fed up with packaging overload.
Protesters targeted Tesco, Lidl and Aldi by dumping their food plastic in trolleys outside to hand back to the stores.
Saturday’s protest, co-ordinated by the Awakening in Argyll call-to-action group, is just one of many ‘attacks’ that are happening around the world to increase awareness of excessive use of plastic packaging.
According to environmental experts, eight million tons of plastic are discarded in the oceans every year – and, at that rate, the sea will contain as much plastic as fish by 2050. Shoppers were invited to join the protest by ripping plastic off their purchases and were handed paper bags instead to empty their goods into.
Vivian Ritz took up the offer and said: ‘All this plastic drives me insane. Manufacturers need to make change. I’ve spent 15 years cleaning up the roadsides in Soroba and most of the litter is unnecessary packaging.’
Sean MacIntyre emptied his burger buns into paper bags and said: ‘I’ve not given it much thought before but now I’ve seen people protesting about it, it’s made me think. They’re right – there’s far too much plastic.’
Taynuilt Primary School pupil Caitlin MacKay also joined the protest. She spoke about plastic pollution at a public speaking contest recently in which she was runner-up. She said: ‘I saw online that more than 100 million marine animals die every year from plastic pollution. I want that to stop.’
The first plastic attack in the UK at a Tesco store in Keynsham, Somerset, on March 27 filled three trolleys but the Oban action filled more than five.
‘People from Dalmally and Lochawe have come to join us. This protest isn’t just an Oban thing. We’ve had a superb response with people ditching their plastic,’ said Joy Cameron, who was one of the protesters.
Shopper Doug Fontaine said he backed the plastic attack 100 per cent and added: ‘If we have to have some plastic in our life, we have to use it responsibly.’
SAMS Phd research student Jen Cocking said: ‘There’s no excuse for single use plastic there are alternatives.’
Mairi Stones from the Awakening in Argyll group said: ‘It’s not just about harm to our planet, oceans and animals humans are also at risk. People need to be aware of chemicals from plastic leaking into our food as it can disrupt hormones. There are safer, compostible alternatives for packaging.’
The action came two days after Tesco’s product boss Jason Tarry pledged the supermarket chain would remove all packaging that is hard to recycle from its business by 2019.
Protester Moira Newiss said: ‘We had a conversation with the fruit and veg manager at Tesco on Saturday who said some people were already leaving their unwanted plastic with them at the tills. He is going to ask his bosses about providing a bin at the end of the aisles.
‘It’s a start.’