GREEN AND ECO-CONSCIOUS mums may well be heading back to Iceland to do their shopping, as the supermarket has announced a war on plastic wrapping. It’s set itself the target of being plastic-free within five years.
Campaigners have been pointing out for years that huge amounts of plastic waste are swirling around the oceans and accumulating around natural boundaries such as islands and shores. This pressure has been leading to increasing numbers of countries banning plastic bags, as a first step towards keeping the situation under control.
The UK has not banned plastic bags – but it has insisted that large supermarkets must charge shoppers for them rather than giving branded bags away for free, as an advertising method. The recent discovery that even small ocean creatures have scraps of plastic in their bodies has led to a cranking up of the pressure for a ban. The Government has responded by suggesting that small shopkeepers should perhaps also be made to charge for the bags and saying it would like to see use of plastic avoided wherever possible by 2042 – a 25 year plan!
Now Iceland has put itself above the national debate by taking action. Its announcement has given it publicity and the announcement may be an attempt by Iceland to clothe itself in a new image – but its move is none the worse for that.
The small print reveals that this is not the pledge it might seem to be. It applies to Iceland’s own label products – the supermarket won’t stop stocking branded items. It’s also a pledge to “eliminate or drastically reduce” plastic packaging – not a commitment to eradicate it. It’s still a step in the right direction and will put pressure on other supermarkets and manufacturers to take action.
Iceland will be packaging items on trays made of paper and natural products rather than on plastic trays and will be looking at packing fruit in nets, rather than plastic bags. It has also backed schemes such as charging extra for single-use plastic bottles or introducing a deposit scheme on plastic bottles to encourage the public to return them for re-use.
With the UK well on the way to using 4 million tonnes of plastic a year, there’s a long way to go to halt this environmental hazard. Now that China has said it is no longer taking the world’s plastic waste, there is an extra urgency to act. Well done Iceland!
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