Why buying plastic-free groceries is so hard (Marketplace)

let's talk about

plastic

waste it's your supermarket packaging out of control the ridiculous potato the ridiculous grapes a real coconut you should be ashamed of yourselves we are destroying the planet everyone knows there is a crisis stop using so much

plastic

as defending yourself against the waist in your market this is the story of two families and their weekly shopping two families about to move places is a social experiment to see how the other side lives when it comes to one of the biggest problems of our time, plastic pollution and how we we take care of it.

I think 95 percent of what we receive is plastic. I think five percent is probably the food inside the bus or the liquid on the plastics. I buy very little plastic now. I mean, I'd say maybe there's something to this sticker. plastic in it or if I see something that's going to be food waste then I'll buy something plastic, it's

hard

to avoid walking into most grocery stores and along with all those options comes all this plastic that supermarkets and their suppliers have come to trust. This is because it is cheap and durable. However, shoppers are offered few options with packaging intended to be used only once and then thrown away.

Most of it is not recycled because it does not contain real money, so despite its weekly sorting, it could end up burned or in landfills. lakes and oceans dumped in distant countries and we have all seen the damage that can cause. I think maybe twice a week because we always go to buy milk. Yes, because the baby likes to drink milk every night before going to bed. Jessica. Jonathan and JJ shop mostly no-frills near their home in Toronto's north end. We never

free

ze Levesque, we did before, but then we just stopped, yes, no frills, it's a chain of discount grocery stores connected to supermarket giant Loblaws, it's cheaper in many places.

They use a lot of plastic, they are much more convenient, cheaper for us to buy, yes, and they are more available to us. I also made the vegan parm. There are more options downtown, where Sophie Mick and Nyla try to live a basically zero-waste lifestyle. Trying to be more aware of the waste we generate daily and trying to reduce it as much as possible. Sophie shops about once a week at local stores that support zero waste and offer bulk food, and the places I shop at just don't have that, I don't have everything covered in plastic like a typical grocery store.

Would you try to avoid single-use plastics at all costs so that yes, Jessica and Jonathan don't think too much about reducing their waste, are they new to this? the idea of ​​even recycling it you should have seen what it does. She simply took the plastic from a recycling bin and put it in the trash bag. Oh, Donny, uh, we collect things that go. These guys don't recycle much either, but for very different things. reasons why we fill this out I don't know, it's probably like I would say every five to seven weeks, five to seven weeks, yeah, they're real garbage, it's pretty much non-existent, oh so this is from September 12, so two months ago You see the cartoon our two families are about to meet for the first time here at the CDC Nik for the next two weeks, they're going to swap the way they filmed, so are you feeling a little anxious doing both?

Yeah, okay, how will this couple cope? when your lives suddenly become plasticized well I would say you are very worried because you will have anxiety about waste and where will these two find time for a new life of inconvenience when they go grocery shopping, how do they do it? that there is no plastic along with the exchange, we are trying something different with the largest supermarkets in Canada, Loblaws and Sobeys, they are part of the problem so they would also have to be part of the solution and could influence their suppliers, even change your own brand. plastic packaging, so instead of criticizing them for what they are not doing, we ask them what they plan to do to reduce plastic packaging, we will see what they have to say, the need to turn off the tap on plastic waste has taken on new dimensions. urgency in the last year since China banned its import before that, many countries, including Canada, were sending at least some of their plastic waste abroad rather than recycling it themselves.

China would buy them, recycle them and make new products with them, but by banning what is happening to all that plastic these are exclusive images provided to the market by Greenpeace from Malaysia, a country the environmental group now calls the dumpster. of the world Greenpeace says this was filmed just a few months ago about an hour from the capital Kuala Lumpur, it is an illegal landfill full of plastic waste from all over the world, including Canada, this particular pile has a Sobeys supermarket bag one bag of scotch fern milk sold throughout Atlantic Canada here's another bag from a wine store in Halifax a bag of birdseed from a company in Ontario a fun bag from an east coast bakery and this sturdy plastic bag which used to contain water softening granules from the windsor salt from the quebec sabretooth windsor system oh you gotta get the good one it's been a few days in the big waste swamp and guess what we forgot our bags so today you gotta carry everything in our hands and our two families are trying out their new ways of shopping and sending updates.

Remember these guys are supposed to avoid plastic packaging. Here we are again

buying

JJ's milk. I think we found. We're looking at more milk now because they come in smaller containers but they're also more expensive, so it's getting a little expensive, but you know, Theron, that's not plastic. Hey, the truth is that most milk cartons are lined with plastic inside and out, but I'm trying to get zero wasters now to just waste as they call it and I don't really like the change. Here is another example of something I would get into and if I package it I am forced to get a certain amount and this is $12.99.

I would definitely pay a lot less than both and I can get exactly the amount I want. Both families say it would be great if they had more options and less plastic, but a week after our first contact with Sobeys and another email, they say they are In the meantime, we're still considering our invitation to talk. Loblaws tells us to look at their corporate social responsibility report. This is the last one and yet it doesn't mention reducing plastic packaging in the swamp, how are you going to get used to it? Jessica and Jonathan are thinking about tacos for dinner. and trying to avoid plastic in the process, they are all wrapped in plastic.

Now let's get some new ones. These black trays are a particular problem, they are not recycled in most of the country, meanwhile all the tortillas are wrapped in plastic. Good. Make more top post flavored salt and plastic topping, maybe they can make their own, they go look for ingredients at another nearby store where it's also cheaper, but when they finally find the flour they like, this is like flour from corn so we wanted to make what used to be paper packaging, now it's plastic at the butcher counter, they nervously ask for ground beef and ask to use their own packaging but plastic is still part of the equation as it uses a bag to pour myself, even so, a woman watching applauds the effort. like the ocean in Mexico, it's so fat and gives you hope that people are really trying to save the world in the center of the city.

Sophie Mick and Nyla are at their local Sobeys, where plastic-wrapped peppers are allowed on their list, even though they normally would. Don't buy them in the egg section Organic, ironically, means plastic, courtesy of the Saudi in-house brand. A little bit of frosting like this, not only does it have a flap, the one on the second floor, it's there, it's very plastic that we contact. v's and Loblaws twice more, but after a month of waiting there is still no sign that they will tell us about their plastic packaging, we have found a grocer who will tell us about one that could be an example for supermarkets around the world and It's taking us across an ocean full of plastic to England If we, as a single store operator with very few resources, can do this in ten weeks, what could a Loblaws do if they put all the resources behind us?

How to fight waste in your market, this is your market, Canada's supermarkets are full of plastic packaging, but our two largest chains, Loblaws and Sobeys, do not want to talk to us about their role in the plastic crisis that they faces our planet, so we turn to England in search of solutions, like in Canada, where not much plastic is recycled. However, in the UK, new research shows that British shoppers are increasingly more concerned about packaging than price. Stores are starting to listen, including this budget. In north London, one of a local supermarket chain is among the first in the world to introduce plastic-

free

zones with almost 2,000 products. without plastic packaging and without counting, we are destroying the planet and for me plastic has become a symbol of one of the things that is wrong in our society today, so we took action because we could, we felt we could make a difference.

Andrew Thornton owns this budget and, in just 10 weeks, transformed it. Affected products include everything from fresh produce and fish to bread, cheese and packaged foods, even bacon, plastic-free bacon, that is, and the best bacon I've ever tasted is plastic-free and ours is fully wrapped. in plastic, but what? is that it is a plant-based cellulose plant-based cellulose appears to behave like plastic but is durable and therefore compostable in a beautiful car Thornton says it ultimately needs big suppliers like Coca-Cola and Nestlé to follow suit game hopes to inspire them and other retailers, including Canadians, if we as store operators with very few resources can do this in 10 weeks, what could Loblaws, Tesco or Walmart do if they back us with all the resources?

The Canadian public cares a lot about this. I have family in Vancouver. I spent a lot of time in Canada. I know you care and our response here has not only been positive words, but we have had a reasonably significant change in sales. I mean you're doing better as a business, so we didn't set out to do it for commercial reasons, but there is a commercial benefit. Hey, David Andrew Thornton says he couldn't have done it without this woman, Franky Gillard. and the group of her, a plastic planet that we work with, can work with brands and supermarkets to try to find solutions that basically cut the plastic tab.

Gillard is happy to show off his work when I walked into the shop, it was completely cut out, all the baking from the bakery. Plastic solution words, well it's simple, we will just do it naked, no packaging and all the alternatives you found for plastic, this is a paper bag and it has the cellulose film, so the plant is completely plant sourced vegetable. Isis is better so it looks like plastic it feels like plastic but it's not fast it's not plastic and so what's up with that? It biodegrades and why you're great so you would put this in with your food waste or your modern waste and it would literally go back to your stuff they create fertilized soil it's clear she's not afraid to play

hard

ball with suppliers how do you push a supplier at that address?

Well, you basically say we're going to delist your products, you really go that far, oh yeah, we've come that far. I mean, I've delivered quite a bit, you mean in this store, you said if you wouldn't get it out of plastic, yeah, I'll look for another one, I'll find someone else who sells what you sell in environmentally friendly packaging. Yes, it's very simple, it doesn't have to be complicated when we show her the pictures as they are in most Canadian supermarkets, she doesn't hold back, God, I mean, I didn't mention the cucumber because honestly, it's so obvious.

I don't even know why they still want to wrap the cucumber it's ridiculous the potato is ridiculous the grapes ridiculous I have even more ridiculous a coconut they should actually be ashamed of themselves whoever that supplier is returns to mushrooms in at least disgusting black plastic trade shameful eggs I didn't even realize they still do that I'm really surprised the thing is they're just not thinking they're just doing by rote what they've always done but you're saying you could change very quickly yeah I mean they control the supply chain, the suppliers want to do business with these two supermarkets, so all the supermarket has to do is say: I no longer want to receive it this way.

I want to receive it in another way that doesn't have plastic. stores have thatpower because they have that power, the power to make or break friends, so why don't they? We head home with even more questions for Canada's big supermarkets. The wars against waste are just beginning. I'm supporting your business, so please support me. my values ​​this is your market how to fight waste we're outside a bad laws store in toronto about to launch a different exchange give me a hand son yeah you're good there are furs so an audit of their packaging of plastic. I'm going to grab your bags and we're going to do a quick little audit of how much plastic you have in your stuff when you go to the grocery store.

Do you see a lot of plastic, like plastic packaging? No, do you feel like you have? one option no potatoes in plastic cheese strips plastic in plastic you have your bread wrapped in plastic you have your sushi wrapped in plastic plastic tape yes, then bread wrapped in plastic cheese wrapped in plastic another cheese wrapped in plastic yogurts in plastic wrapped in paper what further? Do we have oh do we have a lot of plastic here? Your bag does not have a single plastic-free product. Yes, it's cleaning day. Everything comes with plastic. Everything comes with plastic. We'll swap it out for reusable things like these project bags, these glass containers. and these cloth bags are not cheap but they are not plastic either and they are better than what Loblaws offers.

Could we put them in? Leave your chicken here as cleanly and safely as possible in a reusable container and then you can keep the reusable container. Here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to get rid of this plastic and give you a resealable container of the same type. thing with your peppers here I'm going to get rid of your plastic there we go more we're collecting look, we're going very fast here we expected to be inside learning more about what Loblaws is doing to reduce all this plastic but they don't talk, they are customers, although they would like to see more action.

What would be the message of the law of losses? Change the packaging. Do you think the glitter law has the power to do that? I think so because they can say I'm not going to do it. Buy it from you unless it has its effects, that's what stores tell suppliers in England. There was a time when this didn't come wrapped in plastic. Yeah, so why does it need to be in plastic now? It was a good success. Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you. Tell the Guys they blow the fabric, what's up? I am also a customer who doesn't appreciate all the plastic.

This is the amount generated by just seven shoppers leaving that store, so imagine how much plastic waste leaves each legal store. Canada is over, it's so B, there's so much plastic that comes with the products. Can I see what you have? You have plastic in there, yes, plastic, plastic in a plastic bag, in another plastic bag, yes, this one has a lot of plastic, okay, so one right, your cherries are wrapped in plastic, cherries, you have the oranges, these They are divorces, yes, that is made of plastic. We show buyers some of the alternatives we find in England.

They have the same type of mesh that's not plastic, that's biodegradable, it's actually made of. wood that's amazing that's amazing it has a much better basis why I meant and everything is fine good it's to think that we should have more of that kind of thinking here when you look at a store that has figured out what would you say in a store that has continued with example get on board get on board miss neighborhood I can do my part but a store like this can do theirs too and then they are contributing to the entire community as long lost customers so be a shopper we talk. to what better options, but like Loblaws, the visas who refused to come and talk about Sophie didn't even respond to us in writing.

Loblaws sent out a statement listing what they call incremental changes they have made, such as the launch of single-serve coffee pods. that are compostable by removing plastic microbeads from their own brand personal care products and making us pay for plastic bags, since for our families the exchange is over. I think they got it, it's very easy, yes, they could basically pick up anything. I would say that there is ours. waste, yes, it was that easy, yes, after all this, what is your message to supermarkets? I would say stop using so much plastic. We see plastic wrapped products put in a plastic container and then put in plastic bags. say you would like more options exactly its up to me let me make my decision and im supporting your business so support my values ​​yeah food for thought for canadian supermarkets whats the worst packaging youve ever seen and i think than something that is great quality and great price but is wrapped in an absurd amount of packaging like this coconut here I feel very frustrated send us more photos in the market on cbc.ca once the one of identical twins what I have French and German oh no We do not know of two different sets of ancestry, we strongly believe that you and your sister should receive the same report.

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