Chris Loder, MP for West Dorset, is calling on food retailers to tackle the ‘plastic blight of every aisle’. Mr Loder wants food retailers and supermarkets to address the volume of their single-use plastic packaging, the bulk of which is exported overseas for processing. It follows a successful campaign by the local MP to ban a wide range of single-use plastics, which came into force earlier this month. Mr Loder recently visited West Bay to evaluate the impact of the recent ban and to emphasise the need for further action. He said:
"The recent ban on single-use plastic items rightly addresses the supply-side of the plastic industry. What we need now is more action on the demand-side: food retailers and supermarkets that purchase many metric tonnes of plastic that ends up as waste and shipped to third-world countries.”
"I’m calling on food retailers and supermarkets to tackle the plastic blight of every aisle. In each store exists a sea of plastic which is non-reusable, unrecyclable, and unnecessary. It is in the interests of food retailers and supermarkets to voluntarily reduce – and ideally end – their reliance on single-use plastic packaging.”
