Lord knows all kinds of important issues were sent to the back burner when the pandemic hit three years ago.  You name the issue and we were distracted from it:  climate change, racism, pollution, unemployment, the list goes on.  But one of the most important issues in history is seeing a shift to the front burner again:  plastic packaging and the havoc it is wreaking on our precious planet.

Three years ago, I watched an episode of CBC-tv’s Marketplace, and it rocked my world. The focus was plastic waste. The reporter interviewed the manager of an Iceland Foods grocery store in London, England that had recently gone completely plastic free.  He said that he had done this in TEN WEEKS, and that the big stores could do it, too… all that was necessary was public pressure.

That was all I needed to hear.  Public pressure and I are good friends.  That very night, I hopped onto Change.org and researched what I needed to know about how to start a petition.  I decided to focus on Canada’s largest food retailer, Loblaw Companies Inc.  The last time I had gone grocery shopping in a Loblaw-owned store, I’d noticed the staggering number of fruits and vegetables that were packaged in plastic.  It was astonishing to me.  But that wasn’t all.  Then there were the plastic bags still being sold at the front cash registers.

The manager at Iceland Foods also mentioned that the key message to food retailers should be this:  Pressure your SUPPLIERS to adopt sustainable packaging solutions.  Pressure your suppliers.

And so, I asked the then-president of Loblaw Companies Inc., Sarah R. Davis, to do just that.  I launched what I called “the little petition that could” and sent it out into the universe.  “Plastic is choking our planet… We will not buy foods packaged in plastic anymore!”  People began to sign this little petition.  And sign it.  And sign it. 

Then, of course, came the global pandemic.  Suddenly, petitions didn’t seem so important anymore.  But a strange thing happened.  People continued to sign it. And sign it.  And sign it.  So much so that more than three years later, the “little petition that could” has more than 250,000 signatures, which puts it in the top 1% of Change.org petitions.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  Last year, Loblaw Companies Inc. recorded a staggering net profit of 1.98 billion dollars.  During the height of a global pandemic, it made a massive amount of money. 

On May 5th, the company hosted its annual general meeting and announced its profits for the first quarter of 2022.  They were up 40% over the same time last year.  Forty per cent. 

Galen G. Weston, you are the Chairman and now President of Loblaw Companies Inc.  More than 250,000 of your customers have a message for you.  You can’t afford not to invest in sustainable solutions when it comes to plastic packaging.  You can’t afford not to demand that your suppliers change the way they do things.  The future of this precious planet depends on it.

In the past, you have pointed to the comparatively small initiatives you have already taken.  Let our message be clear:  They are not enough. 

As Canada’s largest food retailer, you have the power to demand – yes demand – huge initiatives... huge. 

After three years, this issue is once again on the front burner.  And that’s where we intend it to stay.   

To our supporters:  Please continue to circulate our little petition that could!  Do it for your grandchildren.  It's as simple as this:  We have to do something.

Thank you, everyone!  We couldn't do this without you.

Karen Cumming