The British supermarket chain Iceland is planning to eliminate or drastically reduce plastic packaging for more than 1,000 of its house-label products by the end of 2023, switching to paper-based trays instead. Nigel Broadhurst, joint managing director of Iceland, explains that the typical ready meal was packaged in a particularly bad way. “It is currently in a black plastic tray. That black plastic is the worst possible option in terms of toxins going into the ground and the ability to recycle that product.” He also notes that instead of the usual plastic bag, grocers could put netting around a bunch of apples the same as with oranges. Iceland’s research found that 80 percent of shoppers would endorse a supermarket’s move to go plastic-free.

This article appears in the May 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.