Greenpeace activists have been out encouraging Christmas shoppers to force supermarkets to make plastic waste a priority as part of a campaign to end ocean pollution
Volunteers in Fort William spent the weekend talking to shoppers on the High Street about unnecessary single-use plastic.
The group provided recycled paper bags for shoppers to use instead of plastic – and they encouraged customers to leave any unwanted plastic at the till with a little note for the store manager.
Janet, a volunteer from the Fort William group, said: “Greenpeace volunteers were out targeting supermarkets to ask them to eliminate pointless plastic packaging.
“100 per cent of supermarket customers that we asked want to see them greatly reduce the amount of plastic they use. This should happen now. Our world is most definitely worth it.”
Passers-by were also encouraged to sign a Greenpeace petition asking UK supermarkets to go plastic-free.
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Janet added: “In April, several Greenpeace groups around the UK replaced all the plastic produce bags in Morrisons supermarkets with paper ones. Shortly after, Morrisons reintroduced paper bags to their produce aisles. Supermarkets care about what their customers think and people power works.”
Karen, another group volunteer, said: “It’s difficult to shop these days without going home with a mountain of plastic, and there are some very simple ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use.
“Fruit and veg is the easiest place to start, and if it’s excessively packaged, you can leave the plastic behind for the supermarket to deal with.
“Customers are often only provided with single-use plastic bags for buying loose fruit and vegetables and these plastic bags are usually used once and disposed of.
“People who try to avoid the excessive packaging of fruit and vegetables in multiple layers of plastic trays and wrapping by choosing loose produce, often find they have to buy their loose fruit and vegetables in a plastic bag anyway, and organic produce is always wrapped up too.”
The weekend’s action was part of an ongoing Greenpeace campaign which is growing nationally with the help of television programmes such as the Blue Planet that raised awareness of discarded plastics in the ocean.
Fort William Greenpeace are hosting a screening of award-winning film, A Plastic Ocean, this Friday.