But supermarkets and grocers are starting to sit up and take notice. In response to growing consumer resentment against the huge amounts of plastic waste generated byplastic packaging, some of the largest UK supermarkets have signed up to a pact promising to transform packaging and cut plastic wastage. In a pledge to reuse, recycleor convert all plastic wastage by 2025, supermarkets are now beginning to take some responsibility for the part they play in contributing to the damage to our environment,with one major supermarket announcing their plan to eliminate all plastic packaging inthcir cwm-brand products by 2023.
In response to criticisms over food wastc, some supermarkets are donating some of their food surplus.However, charities estimate that they are only accessing two percent of supermarkets' total food surplus, so this hardly seems to be solving the problem.Some say that supermarkets are simply not doing enough. Most supermarkets operate under a veil of secrecy when asked for exact figures of food wastage, and without more transparency it is hard to come up with a systematic approach to avoiding waste and to redistributing surplus food.
Some smaller companies are now taking matters into their own hands and offering consumers a greener option. Shops like Berlin's Original Unverpakt and London's Bulk Market are plastic-free shops that have opened in recent years, encouraging customers to use their own containers or convertible bags.Online grocer Farmdrop eliminates theneed for large warehouses and the risk of huge food surplus by delivering freshproduce from local farmers to its customers on a daily basis via electric cars, offering farmers the lion's share of the retail price.
There is no doubt that we still have a long way to go in reducing food waste andplastic waste.But perhaps the major supermarkets might take inspiration from these smaller grocers and gradually move towards a more sustainable future for us all.
The word "pact"(Para.2) is closest in meaning to"