Guardian - 22 January 2018, 08:00 (+ 2307 days 5 hours and 55 minutes) In Depth/Analysis
The 25-year deadline spells doom for many ocean species. One supermarket’s pledge to ban plastics puts the target to shameThe prime minister has declared war on plastic, with an announcement that the government hopes to “eliminate all avoidable plastic waste” within 25 years. You could say that this week saw the first troops landing on our plastic-strewn beaches. But, rather than our ministers or MPs, they turned out to be the shelf-stackers and checkout workers of Iceland supermarkets.Those shop workers could well be among the first to handle a new kind of plastics-free packaging that the world so badly needs. While the war may last well beyond next Christmas, Iceland has pledged victory over plastic packaging within five years – 20 years ahead of Theresa May’s deadline. This is, of course, good news, because the government’s war wasn’t looking likely to liberate anything any time soon. Continue reading...