Sainsbury’s Reduces Plastic for Pancake Day
The problem with plastic is that most of it isn’t biodegradable. It doesn’t break down, like paper or food, so instead it hangs around in the environment for hundreds of years.
Each year, 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced and an estimated 40% of that is single-use plastic that will only be used once before it is discarded.
Single-use plastics such as carrier bags, drinks bottles, crisp packets and other food packaging are regularly thrown away and are either sent to landfill or wind up littering the environment or polluting the world’s oceans.
Ocean Plastic
More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans each year. Most of it escapes from land; it can be blown into the sea from ships and beaches, or carried there by rivers. Experts predict that by 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean will outweigh the fish. It’s also believed that one in three sea turtles and around 90 percent of seabirds will have ingested plastic at some point in their lives and plastic has already been responsible for countless deaths of both land and sea creatures.
The plastic problem is one that carries severe consequences and, therefore, it is essential that everyone plays their part in reducing the amount of plastic that enters the environment, and this includes the corporations that produce it and use it in their packaging.
Sainsbury’s Reduces Plastic for Pancake Day
Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, sees sales of pre-packaged pancake mix rise dramatically each year. This is often packaged in plastic vessels, but this year Sainsbury’s has opted for a more environmentally friendly alternative which cuts down the amount of plastic used by 86 percent.
Although this may seem simple or insignificant, this small change is expected to save a total of 25 tonnes of plastic every year!
Sainsbury’s is committed to halving its use of plastic by 2025 and have already cut the amount of plastic packaging used by steaks by 70 percent and have moved from plastic trays to cardboard trays for its lamb and beef Taste the Difference products.
The supermarket has also saved 7.5 tonnes of plastic from confectionery by combining thinner packaging with recyclable packaging for their heart shaped lollipops and Chocolate Raspberry Slabs.
War Wages On
The war on plastic is far from over, but with large corporations such as Sainsbury’s committing to reducing the use of plastic in their stores and supporting their customers in reducing plastic waste, we hope to see the amount of plastic that enters the environment drop dramatically. Then all we need to do is focus on removing all the plastic that is already there!
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