Spending power can make supermarkets act on plastics

Sarah Allen with her empty black bin in 2018. Ref exe 22 18TI 4416 (Image: Archant)

A recent report has shown that supermarkets are not reducing plastic.

There have been some changes with individual products but overall UK supermarkets are packaging their products with more plastic now than in 2017. To me, it’s obvious every time I visit a supermarket that plastic packaging is a problem.

In a relatively short time, when you consider the history of humans, plastic has become a material we see and use every day.

Prior to this modern period of time, for hundreds of thousands of years humans lived without it. For some of you, this pre-plastic existence is something you remember but for many of us we have not seen a different ways and so, perhaps, don’t even see plastic as a problem.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to demonise all plastic.

The coronavirus pandemic is an example of how plastic such as medical PPE, covid tests and vaccination syringes are all life-saving.

Recovering from cancer myself, I know my treatment wouldn’t have been possible without plastic.

However, plastic is quite literally everywhere – it can be found on our beach, in our sea, on our streets, even in our air and the water we drink in the form of microplastics.

We know this can have devastating consequences to marine life.

According to WWF, globally 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic pollution.

This includes whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions. We know microplastics can be ingested by humans (a report commissioned by WWF found we’re consuming about 2000 tiny pieces of plastic every week) and have even been found in the placentas of unborn babies.

It’s not known what the consequences on human health will be; it’s a scary experiment.

However, many studies have suggested a link between microplastics entering the human body and health impacts, including diseases such as cancer. Many a time I’ve wondered if my exposure to plastic over my lifetime had anything to do with developing breast cancer aged 44.

Yet still you go into the average supermarket and the shelves are lined with plastic packaging. You could buy bananas pre-packaged in plastic along with apples, pears, carrots, potatoes, peppers - I could go on, the list is very long! None of these food items need plastic packaging.

You can now recycle this packaging at Tesco which is the best thing to do with it if you have any.

However, it’s even better for supermarkets to stop using it. Plastics are toxic to produce, leach into food and, as mentioned, if not disposed of correctly will break down into small pieces – microplastics.

So, what can we do? Although I feel manufacturers and supermarkets have a massive responsibility for changing this, we as consumers have a lot of power. If we don’t buy it they won’t sell it! So, simply refuse single-use plastic.

Buy loose bananas – this is really easy you can do this in almost every shop that sells them in Exmouth and Budleigh.

Do not put them in a plastic produce bag just place them straight into your trolley or basket.

Then how about choosing your fruit and veg depending on what’s available plastic-free? That’s what I do.

Imagine if we all did this, supermarkets would be forced to stop the pointless plastic packaging.

This is a different mindset to what you may be used to, the meal planning comes from what plastic-free produce you bring home.

So, over the next few days we’ll have curry with mushrooms (I bought them loose and placed them into a reusable produce bag), onions, carrots, cabbage and maybe a tin of chickpeas, roast dinner with seasonal veg, a pasta sauce made with passatta (in a glass jar), onions and chilli.

I think meals become more interesting this way and by shopping plastic-free I am voting with my money for the way I want the world to be.

The supermarkets aren’t doing enough to reduce plastic but we can create a change and reduce plastic by using our spending power wisely.

For more practical tips and easy plastic-free swaps head to: @rhubarb.and.runner.beans