A UEA professor calls on supermarkets to use less plastic packaging
The appeal comes as a United Nations meeting gets underway in Paris today
Last updated 29th May 2023
A UEA professor is calling on the supermarkets to use less plastic in their packaging, to help tackle the issue of plastic pollution.
The appeal comes as a United Nations meeting gets underway in Paris today- running until late June- which aims to create new ways of fighting the problem
"I think it's a step in the right direction"
Professor Richard Fordham works at Norwich Medical School:
"As consumers it's very hard for us. We go to the supermarkets and I try and avoid using plastics it's and it's impossible because it's on everything. The retailers and wholesalers have to step up and think about how they can change their offer.
He also told us that he's feeling positive about what these discussions can achieve:
"I think it's a step in the right direction and things will change. We did it with Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the late 90s and early 2000s. We got rid of CFCs almost at the stroke of a pen when all Governments put their minds to it- and decided we can't have ozone holes in the atmosphere".
"They get into every food-chain"
"We are on course to increase our plastic use by something like four times the current amount in the next 40 years. We just can't carry on using plastics the way we have been using them- they get into every food-chain".
"We are currently pushing the problem away from us a bit into lower-income countries. But we consume all the plastics that come back from these countries and they get into our seas and waste disposal. So it's pervasive"