The most effective way to reduce plastic waste is to stop using throwaway plastic.
After using plastic packaging for a short time, we throw it away, and this non-use plastic waste contaminates the environment for years.
Throwaway plastic waste has a huge impact on eco-systems; and by buying it we’re throwing money away too.
Something that’s plastic-packed costs more than something that isn’t.
- Plastic packaging has a production cost, a processing cost, and a waste management cost.
- The waste management cost of plastic is 10-20 times higher than the production cost.
- The added weight and bulk of plastic packaging increases transportation costs.
All these costs are ultimately added to the price we pay, and the cost of living, when we buy unnecessary plastic waste with our shopping.
So plastic packaging costs us more and creates waste that’s unnecessary, doesn’t decompose, and litters our environment for decades to come.
In environmental terms the cost of plastic just doesn’t add up.
A 2021 WWF report estimated the cost of the plastic we produced in 2019 alone amounted to US$3.7 trillion. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the Gross Domestic Product of India.
One of the sectors generating a lot of plastic waste is supermarkets. And the section in supermarkets generating the most plastic waste is the one selling what should be the healthiest food.
Supermarket fruit and vegetables are flooding the world with plastic.
Fruit and vegetables in supermarkets are sold in plastic trays, wrapped in plastic wrap, put in plastic bags.
This creates a huge amount of plastic waste. And it’s completely unnecessary.
But there’s a simple solution.
Reduce plastic waste, by shopping.
Buying fruit and vegetables from your local fruit and vegetable shop generates little to no plastic waste.
All the fruit and vegetables go in the same bag. The same shopping bag we use next time, the one we’ll use for years.
Shopping local for bulk fruit and vegetables means:
- Fresher fruit and vegetables
- Better quality food
- Much tastier fruit and vegetables
- More choice
- Cheaper prices
- Friendly service
- Lower transportation costs
- Supporting a local business
- Zero plastic waste
- One more shop to walk to
More sustainable shopping saves money. And it’s an immediate way to reduce plastic waste.
Local small family-run shops need our business more than major retail chains.
What supermarkets need is to be more responsible and reduce plastic waste, NOW.
Some countries are starting to ban plastic packaging. Spain will ban plastic-wrapped fruit and vegetables in 2023. World leaders have said they will work on implementing a plastic pollution treaty by 2024.
An 18-month study by the waste reduction charity WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) found that selling fruit and vegetables without plastic packaging would reduce plastic waste in the UK by as much as 100,000 tonnes a year.
We can all do something NOW, and reduce plastic waste, every time we go shopping.
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