The first plastic waste free supermarket in the Netherlands opens it's doors

Amsterdam (Netherlands) is opening a plastic-free pop-up supermarket today

The initiator of the project is the international environmental action group A Plastic Planet. The pop-up supermarket is located in an extension of an Amsterdam branch of the Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza. About 700 plastic-free products are for sale in the store, which are equipped with the Plastic Free label. This hallmark has been developed by A Plastic Planet and shows the consumer that no plastic has been incorporated in the product.

'Milestone in battle against plastic pollution'

"The opening of the world's first plastic-free pop-up supermarket is a milestone in the worldwide fight against plastic pollution," says Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet. "For decades, the consumer was confronted with the lie that food and beverage products can not do without plastic. A plastic-free pop-up proves the opposite. We hope that other supermarkets in the world will follow in the footsteps of Ekoplaza Lab. "

A plastic-free zone

Ekoplaza wants to reduce the use of plastic in the food industry and retail trade. The supermarket chain intends to roll out the concept of the pop-up supermarket under the name Ekoplaza Lab, so that by the end of this year all Dutch subsidiaries will have a plastic-free zone.

By: Rianne Lachmeijer

Plastic-free Golden Age

A Plastic Planet, Ekoplaza and the Plastic Soup Foundation join forces with Ekoplaza Lab to create a healthier world with less plastic. They urge the government to take measures, ask suppliers to adjust their production process and urge consumers to be critical about the purchase of products with plastic packaging materials, so that a plastic-free Golden Age is on the horizon.

Ribbon

The fact that the municipality of Amsterdam appreciates the movement that Ekoplaza is making is evident from the fact that the ribbon was cut at the opening of the Ekoplaza pop-up store by the deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Eric van der Burg.

May and the Queen

The fact that Ekoplaza Lab comes about in a British-Dutch collaboration does not come as a big surprise. Great Britain has a lively subculture of packaging-free shops and supermarkets (see here). Barely a time ago, the English prime minister Theresa May gave her support to plastic-free supermarkets, and Buckingham Palace renounced all the plastic inside the walls of the palace of the English queen.

By: Roderick Mirande, Adformatie