Often the common byline one gets to hear from everyone regarding pollution is that it is utterly detrimental to everyone’s health and toward general well-being of the planet. Still, there are very few who counter this growing menace in which way they can. Over the course of the last decade or so, environmentalists have raised alarms about the mounting troubles associated with plastic pollution, a problem that the developed west is battling each passing day. From harming the marine life to destroying the world’s oceanography, plastic pollution has resulted in forcing animals to entangle with piles and piles of dumped plastic waste. But despite repeated warnings, very few countries have taken the fight in their hands.
But then, Britain is no ordinary country. Famously called the ‘land of literature and language’, there’s more to the glory of god; the British empire Recently, one of the most environmentally-conscious countries in the whole of Europe took a stern measure to curb the ills of plastic pollution by banning plastic altogether in its supermarkets. You read this right. Change begins from here: the very heart of the burgeoning problem. It is reported that 5 million tons of plastic is consumed each year, out of which only 24% of the pile makes it to recycling. Britain’s sudden measure seems to emanate from this grave fact.
A leading supermarket store- Iceland- has become the first in the world to ban all plastic material in its packaging of food, including those of its own label products. As a result, a Briton may no longer find any plastic ready meals inside the Iceland Supermarket chain. It is reported that packaging on 1400 product lines will replaced altogether and all plastic material has been replaced with wood-pulp alternatives, made in Britain.
The bright development augmented by Iceland supermarket chain also directs attention to finding alternatives to plastic bottles and milk cartons. It is also believed that PM Theresa May has also introduced a stringent deadline, which retail stores across the country will have to adhere to. The said company that operates 1400 product lines and 900 stores is working towards a five-year policy wherein all plastic material would be chucked in entirety from its own-brand products. Popular lobbies that engage social movements on the lines of curbing pollution- an ever-growing epidemic warn- about truckloads of plastic waste entering oceans every minute causing untold damage to marine life and inevitably, the whole of mankind.
But Iceland brand’s landmark move, which nonetheless would cause the supermarket chain a great deal of money- is expected to put a lot of pressure on rival firms and businesses existing in the same trajectory. Now, one has to see whether more companies will join in the march to considerably shun plastic consumption with Iceland showing the way?