A New Campaign for Plastic-Free Packaging

Sometimes our good food is covered in more medals than a Russian general:

Organic
Vegan
Gluten Free
Fair Trade

But a new campaign seeks to pin another honor to commerce's chest. A Plastic Planet, an advocacy group based in England, has launched what it calls the "Plastic Free Trust Mark," a label certifying that items have no plastic in their packaging.

Begun just weeks ago, the program has already drawn support from retailers and food producers in Britain and Holland.

The campaign seeks to combat our plastic-waste crisis from both sides of the shopping aisle. It's striving "to support retailers which have made pledges to phase out plastic packaging," the group says. And it hopes that by informing folks of excessive plastic use and emphasizing alternatives, it will reduce demand for plastic. “Finally shoppers can be part of the solution, not the problem.”

The group notes that plastic exists in much packaging where it isn't obvious – in some canned goods, for example, and even in teabags. “Our trust mark cuts through the confusion of symbols and labels and tells you just one thing – this packaging is plastic-free,” said Sian Sutherland, a co-founder of A Plastic Planet.

This an essential, super-smart program that all should get behind. And one that should definitely be brought to the US – pronto.

–By Harriet Elias