Amsterdam Plastic-Free Aisle Debuts at Supermarket

An Amsterdam supermarket debuted Wednesday with an entire plastic-free aisle with more than 700 items that use no plastic packaging. 

Ekoplaza says it's the first store of its kind to have a plastic-free aisle. The aisle was created in partnership with environmental group A Plastic Planet, which has a plastic-free mark to make products easily identifiable to consumers.

The plastic-free aisle contains products such as meat, rice, sauce, milk, chocolate, yogurt, and fresh produce, The Washington Post reported. Instead of plastic, the items are packaged in glass, metal, and cardboard containers, along with a biofilm that looks like plastic but breaks down within 12 weeks in a compost pile. 

Over 2018, the grocery chain plans to install plastic-free aisles in 74 of its stores in the Netherlands, CNBC reported.

“There is absolutely no logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic,” A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said, CNBC reported. “Plastic food and drink packaging remains useful for a matter of days yet remains a destructive presence on the Earth for centuries afterwards.”

Ekoplaza Chief Executive Erik Does called the plastic-free aisles “an important stepping stone to a brighter future for food and drink,” CNBC reported. “We know that our customers are sick to death of products laden in layer after layer of thick plastic packaging.”

Eenvironmentalists have become concerned about plastic waste and its effect on oceans, habitats, and food chains, with a few even saying that plastic pollution may permanently contaminate the natural world, The Guardian reported.

Prices for the plastic-free items will not be higher than for traditionally packaged products, The Guardian reported. 

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