Hi John,

We’ve got some bad news - and it’s about the UK’s supermarkets. Even though over 1.5 million people called on them to ditch pointless plastic packaging, this year they’ve put even more plastic than ever on their shelves. [1]

Surprised? Well that’s probably because supermarkets keep announcing small measures and trials to give the illusion of change - without taking real action on plastic. Time to let the world know. 

Can you call out supermarkets on social media for their lack of plastic action?

In 2018, we created a league table based on the plastic footprint of all the UK’s major supermarkets. [2] Although some supermarkets have made improvements - 7 out of 10 supermarkets have increased their plastic footprint during a time when people are calling for a reduction!

Supermarkets have pumped out an estimated 1.8 million tonnes since  2017 - and they’re on track to produce even more. That’s just not good enough - they know our oceans can’t stomach anymore plastic.

But there’s some good news. After immense support from people like you, we won our Sainsbury’s campaign. They’ve committed to huge plastic reduction - it’s a good step, but there’s still much to do. [3]

Some retailers like Waitrose have trialled reuse and refill aisles - this is the kind of action we need to see. Reuse and refill are the supermarkets’ best hope at reducing their plastic footprint - but the time for trials is over, supermarkets need to take action now.

If enough of us expose supermarkets’ lack of action, they’ll have to stop paying lip service to the plastic problem and take real, meaningful action. Can you share this video on social media? 

Everyday it’s becoming more and more obvious. Plastic is a problem we need to fix now - we need those producing and selling thousands of tonnes of single-use packaging to take responsibility.

We’ve got the people on our side and no brand wants to be seen pumping plastic into our oceans. Let’s use that power and call supermarkets out for their lack of action on single-use plastic.

Thank you for everything you do,
Anthony and the plastics team

Notes:
[1] Supermarkets pumped out '903,000 tonnes of plastic packaging' last year - even more than in 2017
[2] Greenpeace Supermarket Plastic League Table 2018
[3] Sainsbury's promise to reduce plastic by half thanks to people power

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