My wife and I were unpacking our groceries from a recent trip to Tesco and our three year old son in the background who has become very interested in recycling and garbage kept saying, Dad, this is not recyclable.  Dad, this is also not recyclable. As we continued to go through the groceries we realized most fruit and veg had been wrapped in single use plastic. Most of the bags of nuts were not recyclable, and a good majority of the packaging and plastic was not recyclable.  

We discussed what are some things we could do to lower our footprint in a country at the moment that is ranking near the bottom of the list in Europe with the most consumption of plastic per capita.  After listening to a podcast with Dr. Jane Goodall and feeling the pangs of guilt I thought that we could start by asking Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Dunnes, SuperValu, and the other conventional grocery chains here in Ireland to start to reduce their plastic use. Accept plastics and glass bottles for refunds at the stores, and start to push for more recyclable based products in the stores.  Start to create awareness to the public and the shoppers of their own stores.

A whopping 91% percent of plastics are NOT Recycled.  Plastic is everywhere. It ends up in the ocean and then into the fish we eat, the water we drink, even as microplastics in salt!. In 2016, the global production of plastics reached 335 million metric tons. Currently, there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, and it is predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish  

Please join me in asking to reduce the plastic in the stores, increase the recycle rate in Ireland, and become a country that has really started to take environmental steps similar to its European EU member states.  Offer produce in bulk like other grocery stores, and choose cardboard, glass and metal over plastic packaging. 

It is time to change our relationship with plastic... recycling is not enough. We need to reduce plastic production and consumption. Companies need to be held accountable for the role they play in this cycle and help to be a part of the solution, not the problem. Help prove that you DO really care about your customers by helping to save our planet.