This time next year all plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds will be banned with the only exception for people with a medical need or disability, for whom plastic straws and other materials will be available upon request.
This has been a massive topic for a while now and this ban has been discussed for the past year or so, I am very happy the decision has been made and a dates now been put in place.
Being able to easily access alternatives to single use plastics will be a game changer, for the climate and all the plastic waste which we have build up and is filling our oceans.
Recently I was thinking about having a month where I go plastic free ( I am still planning on doing this but over the summer at some point when I have more time). After my recent food shop at Aldi, I got home and unpacked all my shopping and turned around and nearly everything was packaged in plastic. I didn't really notice while walking around the shop, when you put it all together and look back it. I was shocked, I'm one of 443 people who live in my student accommodation and were all buying similar food from the same shops. The waste as a whole must be huge.
It's the responsibilities of the huge companies within especially the food industry to take on that job of being more conscious and if not making everything more expensive. Atlas having options in the supermarket that are fully plastic free and hopefully showing them that a campaign would push and show that people do care , and are willing to pay more for biodegradable packaging.
It was announced on the 21st of April that Morrisons is to become the first British supermarket to roll-out plastic free fruit and veg areas in many of its stores.
'However, there will continue to be a neighbouring section where customers can still buy packaged veg, if they choose' ( The Scotsman). This is still not good enough in my opinion, there has been a environmental crisis announced and one supermarket has put half a fruit and veg section that is plastic free. Great.
The move follows a ten-month trial in three English stores where the amount of loose fruit and veg bought by customers increased by an average of 40 per cent. That is nearly half the customers that went into three different stores, I just think its shocking that more supermarkets haven't got involved and joined in.
Hopefully this will be the catalyst to change and evoke more to be done. If you don't provide easy options to be more environmentally friendly then we are never going to change, not many people have the time money or even effort to start searching for plastic free or more environmentally friendly options.
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