I was really impressed by the headline,”Supermarket chain to ban plastic packaging within 5 years”. I saw this news mid January when ‘Iceland’, one of Britain’s major supermarket chains has come forward to put an end to plastic packaging of its products by the end of 2023. As of company’s profile, they are privately owned family business and this makes them far easy to implement new policies. Even though the move can be a bit expensive, the company does not make customers bear it. As is understood, it is a mix up of innovative plus traditional ideas when and where is possible. There is no compromise on food and consumer safety.
I am from Kannur district in Kerala. A ban has been imposed on plastic bags. Paper bags and cloth bags are used by people. This alternative reduces plastic waste to an extent.
I would encourage people to go to the fish market with a reusable container. I would encourage market giants to set up their stalls in supermarkets. Instead of selling their product in plastic packages, let them install huge containers to contain their products, from which they fill it in thick paper covers(for lesser quantities) and reusable containers(for larger quantities). Safety measure lies in the hand of consumers too in a way that they bring clean containers.
‘Iceland’ will be an inspiration to many others and will surely attract the attention of consumers because ‘ reduce the plastic waste’ has been the need of the hour. I just want young and old minds to come up with solutions to reduce the use of plastic. Sometimes you have to go back to traditional practices that existed before the arrival of plastic in ‘geometrical proportion’. It is for the safety of both present and future generation as well as for the well being of the planet.