Ekoplaza is one of the famous supermarkets in the Netherlands. Recently there is something interesting about this convenience store which makes it different from supermarkets in general, namely plastic-free aisles.
Plastic waste that pollutes the environment is very disturbing to the attention of the citizens of the world, included to the manager of one of the department stores in Amsterdam. He apparently responded to environmental pollution by plastic seriously, so that a special plastic-free aisle was provided.
It is undeniable that almost every product that is spread in the world is packed in plastic, while we ourselves realize the dangers of plastic for the environment. Therefore, there is no saturation in the plastic-free campaign heralded by those who care about environmental welfare.
Ekoplaza Nicknamed Eco-friendly Supermarket
Supermarkets are public shopping places that provide various items to meet daily needs. Usually, the items contained there use plastic as the packaging material. Food items such as fruit, vegetables, and meat after weighing will be wrapped in plastic.
However, it is different from the Ekoplaza “The Environmentally Friendly Supermarket” which packs all the goods using paper. This is why supermarkets in the Netherlands are touted as environmentally friendly supermarkets. That’s because it contributed to saving the planet from plastic waste pollution.
This supermarket is the first in the world to have a plastic-free hallway. The making of the alley works with an environmental organization in the UK, namely A Plastic Planet. They replace goods shelves with recycled ones and the products offered are all plastic-free.
Food ingredients such as fruit, vegetables, rice, cereals, chocolate, and meat in supermarkets are even wrapped in special plastic-free packaging. It seems a bit difficult to imagine how such foods are wrapped without plastic, especially meat.
However, the packaging is specifically designed to be able to wrap food ingredients without damaging them. This packaging is also environmentally friendly because it can be recycled.
Although using special packaging, the prices offered by Ekoplaza remain the same. This special treatment has absolutely no effect on the price of the item so that visitors do not have to worry about having to spend more when shopping.
The Purpose of the Ekopaza Makes Plastic-free Hallway
This supermarket does not consider plastic-free aisles to be a trend. They made the passageway as an effort to fight the plastic waste produced by consumers in Europe every day. Thus, plastic waste on earth will automatically reduce in number.
Based on data from A Plastic Planet, the total of all plastic waste used to pack goods amounts to more than 40%. Half is used to pack food and beverage products. The provision of plastic-free aisles is an important moment to combat plastic pollution in the world.
This supermarket has become the first in the world to have a plastic-free hallway and that is a good example to be followed by other supermarkets. To make it easier for visitors to know which items are truly plastic-free, the supermarket will label them with the sign “Plastic Free Mark”.
The plastic-free aisle is made to test new bio-material materials that can be composted. This hallway is also intended to reuse traditional materials such as glass, metal, and cardboard. This is a very innovative breakthrough to test compost bio-materials in a more environmentally friendly way as an alternative to plastic packaging.
The amount of positive support that flows in the making of this aisle has made supermarkets even more eager to expand their distribution. There are 74 branches of supermarkets scattered throughout the Netherlands owned by Ekoplaza and they hope to establish plastic-free aisles in all these branches by 2018.
