First Plastic-Free Supermarket Aisle Opens in Netherlands
The aisle includes more than 700 plastic-free products, including meat, dairy, and produce. According to A Plastic Planet, the products use alternative, biodegradable packaging where necessary and will not be more expensive than plastic-wrapped goods.
Europe’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle opened in the Amsterdam branch of the Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza on Wednesday. The change comes amid increasing concern about the damaging effects of plastic waste on oceans and habitats.
A Guardian investigation earlier this year revealed that UK supermarkets produced one million metric tons of plastic waste a year. The group A Plastic Planet has campaigned for all supermarkets to offer a plastic-free aisle in an effort to curb plastic pollution.
“For decades shoppers have been sold the lie that we can’t live without plastic in food and drink,” said Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet. “A plastic-free aisle dispels all that. Finally we can see a future where the public have a choice about whether to buy plastic or plastic-free. Right now we have no choice.”
The aisle includes more than 700 plastic-free products, including meat, dairy, and produce. According to A Plastic Planet, the products use alternative, biodegradable packaging where necessary and will not be more expensive than plastic-wrapped goods.
“We know that our customers are sick to death of products laden in layer after layer of thick plastic packaging,” Ekoplaza chief executive Erik Does said. “Plastic-free aisles are a really innovative way of testing the compostable biomaterials that offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic packaging.”