World’s 1st plastic-free aisle in a Dutch supermarket

Plastic ain’t so fantastic: World’s 1st plastic-free aisle in a Dutch supermarket in Amsterdam

This week was the opening of the world’s 1st plastic free aisle in a supermarket. And guess where it was? None other than the Netherlands! It seems like the world is beginning to listen when it comes to recognising the impact that plastic waste has on the environment. This is especially true after discussing how amazing the Dutch are at waste management, last week.

Plastic-free aisle in Amsterdams Ekoplaza

On Wednesday, a plastic-free aisle opened in one of the Ekoplaza branches in Amsterdam. Within this ‘plastic-free’ aisle, is around 700 items that are plastic free. They use alternative packaging methods, such as cardboard and glass, and bio-biodegradable’s. This way, customers have the option to opt-out of buying a lot of plastic items and will help result in a decrease in plastic waste. Ekoplaza, although only having this aisle in one store right now, is planning to incorporate this into all 74 stores across the country. This is just one step that the Netherlands is taking in order to try and save the environment. Hurrrrrah for taking this s**t seriously!

What can I do to reduce my plastic consumption?

We live in a throw-away plastic culture. In fact, we live in throw-away culture full stop. So what can we all do to help the environment?
  • Start shopping in places like Ekoplaza’s plastic-free aisle duh. Once this is ruled out over the country, we have no excuse but to try and go.
  • Buy a proper coffee cup and use the refillable rather than throw-away coffee cups every morning before work.
  • Look for alternatives: for example, Coca Cola sells both glass bottles and plastic, so make the smart choice of buying glass where possible.
  • If the plastic is recyclable, recycle it! It may seem obvious, but make sure you make a conscious effort to recycle plastic bottles whenever possible.

You get the idea…

I could list off tips for days. Just make sure you’re smart with your choices guys and reduce your waste! Hopefully, some other supermarkets will follow suit.

What do you think about this revolutionary new plastic-free supermarket aisle in NL? Let us know in the comments.

 Source featured image: a plastic planet/ekoplaza (twitter)
Emma Brown
Emma Brown
A familiar face at DutchRevew. Emma arrived in Holland in 2016 for a few weeks, fell in love with the place and never left. Here she rekindled her love of writing and travelling. Now you'll find her eating stroopwafels in the DutchReview office since 2017.

1 COMMENT

  1. I was at Shoe City the other day. There are tons and tons of plastic and shoe boxes. Why don’t they put a huge container in front and every pair of shoes boxes and plastics inside the shoes, put that in this container for recycling. At home these end up in the rubish bun.

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