Dutch Grocery Store Unveils The World’s First Plastic-Free Aisle

By  Amanda Froelich Truth Theory

Where do you shop if you’re “going green?” At the grocery store Ekoplaza, of course! The Dutch chain recently unveiled the first plastic-free grocery store aisle in the world, and legislators are hoping it will encourage other businesses in the UK to implement similar.

Ekoplaza unveiled the aisle at its Jan Pieter Heijestraat location last Wednesday. As GoodNewsNetwork reports, the aisle includes over 700 products, such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, condiments, beverages, snacks, meats, and non-perishables. Every single item can be recycled or is biodegradable. By the end of this year, the company’s 70 other branches should roll out similar aisles.

Said Erik Does, Ekoplaza’s chief executive, in a statement: “Plastic-free aisles are an important stepping stone to a brighter future for food and drink. We know that our customers are sick to death of products laden in layer after layer of thick plastic packaging.”

The environmental group A Plastic Planet helped orchestrate the project. The plastic-free grocery aisle is just one of the group’s many initiatives. Reportedly, activists were inspired to take action after watching the BBC documentary series Blue Planet II, which highlights the dangers of oceanic pollution.

Said Sian Sutherland, A Plastic Planet’s co-founder: “The introduction of the world’s first Plastic Free Aisle represents a landmark moment for the global fight against plastic pollution. For decades shoppers have been sold the lie that we can’t live without plastic in food and drink. A Plastic Free Aisle dispels all that. Finally we can see a future where the public have a choice about whether to buy plastic or plastic-free.”

“There is absolutely no logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic. Europe’s biggest supermarkets must follow Ekoplaza’s lead and introduce a plastic-free aisle at the earliest opportunity to help turn off the plastic tap,” he concluded.

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Source: GoodNewsNetwork

Image Credit: Eko Plaza

Written by: Amanda Froelich

I'm an RHN, chef, writer, activist, and entrepreneur who lives in Colorado. I share healthy plant-based recipes at Life in Bloom and cannabis-infused recipes at My Stoned Kitchen. Read More stories by Amanda Froelich

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