The façade of the first plastic free supermarket at the Jan Pieter Heijestraat in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, February 28th – The world’s first Plastic Free Aisle will today be unveiled at an Amsterdam supermarket.
The brainchild of international environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet, the aisle will sit within a completely new metro-sized pilot store of the Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza.
Almost 700 plastic-free products will be included in the pilot including: meat; rice; sauces; dairy; chocolate; cereals; yogurt; fresh fruit and vegetables all conveniently packaged.
Interior of the Ekoplaza Lab.
Ekoplaza will roll out the aisle across its 74 branches across the Netherlands by the end of this year. The second store with a Plastic Free Aisle is expected to be in The Hague with the opening set for June this year.
It will be a testbed for innovative new compostable bio-materials as well as traditional materials such as glass, metal and cardboard.
The launch comes just a month after British Prime Minister Theresa May announced her backing for Plastic Free Aisles in her first major speech on the environment.
A Populus poll revealed last year that more than nine-in-ten Britons back the introduction of a Plastic Free Aisle in supermarkets, and campaigners hope that UK supermarkets will soon follow Ekoplaza’s lead.
The Plastic Free Mark-label.
Goods within the aisle will all bear the Plastic Free Mark, a new label introduced by A Plastic Planet to help shoppers quickly identify products that are completely free from plastic packaging.
A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “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. Right now we have no choice.
“There is absolutely no logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic. Plastic food and drink packaging remains useful for a matter of days yet remains a destructive presence on the earth for centuries afterwards.
“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.”
Ekoplaza Lab has the worlds first plastic free aisle.
Ekoplaza Chief Executive Erik Does said: “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. Plastic Free Aisles are a really innovative way of testing the compostable biomaterials that offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic packaging.”
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