A group of Greenpeace activists and citizens brought a 15-feet tall ‘garbage monster’ to the state capitol in Tallahassee and then placed it in front of a Publix supermarket in order to spread awareness about the pollution with plastic bags.
Publix continues showing scarce support in their efforts to remove single-use plastic.
Greenpeace will also travel throughout the state to highlight the market’s lack of measures against plastic pollution.
Publix is still using plastic bags in their facilities and also financially support laws which avert the implementation of a ban on plastic bags in Florida.
In a Greenpeace survey of supermarket retailers in the nation who’re trying to remove one-time use plastic, this brand was 15th out of 20 and scored 7.1 from possible 100 points.
Love for the Planet more Important than the Temporary Convenience of Plastic Bags
According to estimates by the Australia’s Ocean Crusaders, a waterway cleaning organization, shoppers on a global level use around 500 billion single-use plastic bags on a yearly basis.
This leads to around millions of bags used every minute throughout the globe or 150 bags per year for each person on the planet.
Greenpeace plastic campaigner David Pinsky stated that Publix continue showing that they care more for their ability to save up on cheap plastic bags than to answer to the needs of their customers.
He further added that they need to get on the right side of history and put an end to their dependence on plastic bags.
What Does Publix Have to Say?
However, Publix say that their plastic reduction program helped save more than 6 billion plastic bags and emphasized that they have recycling bins outside their stores.
Their recycling statement notes that their bags use 71 percent less energy for the production than paper bags.
Greenpeace plans to tour the Sunshine State with the ‘monster’ and it’s expected to be seen in Gainesville, Orlando, and St. Petersburg.
Publix Supermarkets are one of the largest US regional grocery stores that operate mainly in Florida, but are also present in Alabama to Virginia.
It remains to be seen if the ‘monster’ succeeds raising awareness in Publix and other supermarkets that are still using plastic bags.
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