Sustainable transition
Pass on plastic
Every year, EU citizens carry home more than 100 billion plastic shopping bags. Eight billion of these end up in the environment. The outcome? An island of rubbish in the Pacific Ocean, which is now the size of Central Europe.
Every year, endless raw materials are wasted on food packaging such as cartons and paper bags. Plastic products are harmful to humans and nature alike. The absurd thing is that disposable products such as fruit and vegetable packaging, disposable BBQs and single-use cutlery are made of a material that lasts pretty much forever. All of these plastic materials are used for just a few minutes before we dispose of them again. This wastage is often entirely unnecessary – if we would just think about it and always have our own bag or backpack with us.
Additionally, food wraps are the second most common item found on beaches worldwide. There is virtually no part of any ocean that is plastic free today. For many items, packaging isn’t optional, but when it comes to fruits and veggies, packaging is mostly used to protect the products during long-distance shipping. However food transportation around the world leads to massive carbon emissions – if international shipping was a country, it would be the world’s sixth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
There’s only one solution to reduce those emissions and the amount of plastic packaging used: buy your fresh veggies local and seasonal, with as little packaging as possible! It tastes better and protects the environment. You can also use our online tool to challenge yourself to buy regional, seasonal,and organic for a couple of weeks, as part of a city-wide competition!
"Plastic is ubiquitous in modern society and seemingly unavoidable. But is it worth risking the lives of marine species, the health of the oceans and our own future in the name of convenience? By taking steps to minimize everyday plastics in our lives, we can crush plastic at the source and give marine life a fighting chance."
by Nil Zacharias, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of One Green Planet
@ Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
