Remove packaging in the supermarket

To protest against the excessive use of plastic food packaging, twenty or so environmental militants took action in a Tesco supermarket near Bath in England.

Men and women did their shopping, paid at the till and then took out scissors to remove all unnecessary packaging. This symbolic action, now dubbed a “plastic attack”, was intended to raise the shop management’s awareness to the quantity of plastic packaging used, by leaving trays, bags, shrink-wrap and other packaging in supermarket trolleys. Security decided not to intervene, letting the participants fill three complete trolleys with plastic. A Tesco spokesperson declared that the brand had committed to produce 100% recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

The organiser of the protest, Kathy Farrell, said that she had sent two letters to the company, but they had remained unanswered. “Tesco announced its intention to halve the quantity of plastic used by 2025, but that is in seven years!”. The brand says it is prepared to meet the protesters even though things are set to change in the United Kingdom as Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, has instigated new measures: supermarkets should over time create shelves without packaging and bill disposable plastic containers separately.

This form of protest proves that there is no such thing as bad publicity: peaceful and apparently effective, it is nonetheless inspiring. Incidentally, another Plastic Attack took place on Saturday, 7 April 2018 in Brussels.