UK supermarkets test plastic-free zones

Bowing to pressure from environmentally conscious consumers, big brand shops have begun taking steps to strip their shelves of plastic wrapping over concerns about saving the oceans from waste.

"Nude zones" and "Food in the Nude" campaigns are already being rolled out in places such as New Zealand and South Africa, where many fresh fruits and vegetables are grown within relatively easy reach.

Now retailers in Britain — where even bunches of bananas are often sealed in plastic to keep them fresh and undamaged during long-distance shipping — are gradually following suit.

"It's so liberating," the 49-year-old mother said, carrying her own containers for the loose products.

Carrots packaged in a compostable plastic-free net at Budgens supermarket in Belsize Park. AFP

Commercially viable?

Currently, British stores rely greatly on plastic to ship, store and sell items.

The country's 10 largest grocery chains produce 810,000 tonnes of single-use plastic packaging every year, a figure that does not include bags, Greenpeace and the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency said in November.

Like Stirling, other shoppers have also been pressing the Oxford Waitrose supermarket to do more to stop plastics pollution via a wall, set up by staff, where customers have pinned hundreds of suggestions, many asking for refillable bottles for items like milk and cleaning products.

Not that difficult

Plastic packaging is cheaper than some of the other possible options.

So, are shoppers ready to pay more for their groceries to come wrapped in more ecological packaging?

Fran Scott, a 55-year-old marketing consultant, is unsure.

"I genuinely don't know," she said, while also shopping at Waitrose, armed with her own plastic containers.

"I would like to think that," she added however.

Andrew Thornton, manager of Budgens supermarket, poses at the shop in Belsize Park. AFP

Other big supermarket chains have signed up to "The UK Plastics Pact."

The pledge's four tenets include eliminating all single-use packaging and making the remainder recyclable or compostable by 2025.

Great material

Materials scientist Mark Miodownik, of University College London, said that plastic had become a victim of a global business model focused on "disposability and consumption."

Part of the problem, he said, stemmed from the marketing of plastic in the 1960s when it came to symbolise modernity and practicality.

"Plastic is a great material," he said, pointing to its advantages for hospital materials, pipes and technological equipment.

He said that plastic is good for packaging too, but only if it can be recycled well.

Britain's Food Standards Agency notes that plastic limits the exposure of produce to air and moisture, extending its shelf life and "helping to reduce food waste."

Agence France-Presse