Sipping a cool drink with a straw – that takes barely an hour, depending on your thirst and mood. But it can take 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose. The good news: there are alternatives. A comparison of some materials.
* Can be composted at home or industrially. Breaks down within 4 weeks under the right conditions.
METRO offers to-go packaging made from, among others, bagasse, paper, wood, bamboo or palm leaf as well as alutrays (not renewable but the most valuable material to recycle), rPET and PLA. At the same time, METRO aims to reduce the environmental impact of the packaging of own-brand products during the entire life cycle while ensuring that we meet the high quality and hygiene standards our customers expect. ‘Packaging and plastic’ is one of METRO’s CR focus areas.
Sources: ScienceDirect, ecopack
does not biodegrade
up to minimum 90% in 120 days
Sources: GlobalData, METRO, welt.de
Cutlery made from …
Sources: eco-gecko.com, thebamandboo.com
Time to decompose:
Source: Rubicon
Source: Auckland Council
One initiative with which METRO wants to contribute to sustainable change is the METRO Plastic Initiative. The 3 pillars of the METRO Plastic Initiative are the prevention of ocean plastic together with the Plastic Bank, the reduction of plastic in packaging and more conscious purchasing and recycling decisions among customers. The cooperation launched on World Oceans Day 2021 aims to prevent around 65 million plastic bottles from entering the oceans in the first place in the following 12 months. To achieve this, around 1.3 million kilos of plastic waste are to be collected at the source – on land. At the same time, communities living in poverty in coastal regions are to be supported. More: metro-wholesale.com/be-sustainable/metro-plastic-initiative