Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has been satirised over its plastics policy in a spoof YouTube video issued by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
The video shows ‘Polly Ethylene’, supposedly Sainsbury’s head of public relations, explain: “We implore you to embrace problem plastics as we transition from the late modern age into the pre-apocalyptic era.”
Her observations include “if we didn’t have plastics what would we wrap bananas in?” and “plastic production is set to quadruple by 2050 and that plastic is going to need a home. The ocean offers us a perfect storage solution”.
She dismisses concerns about microplastic pollution of the sea with the words: “The plastic that is in our waterways is often so small that its barely visible to the naked eye. Do you believe in things you can’t see?”
Greenpeace said supermarkets produce 800,000 tonnes a year of plastic packaging.
It said: “While no major retailer is doing enough, some are starting to take action. But Sainsbury’s is saying little and doing even less. Check out its plastic policy – it couldn’t care less.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Greenpeace says we have pledged to reduce plastic by 77 tonnes and, in fact, we will reduce plastic by well over 2,400 tonnes in the next 12 months alone.
”For Sainsbury’s branded products, 67% of the plastic that we use is widely recyclable and 100% will be widely recyclable packaging by 2025. We have ambitious targets to continue to reduce plastic across our product range.”
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