A LIFE-SIZED plastic man made entirely of single use packaging greeted shoppers at an Abergavenny supermarket recently in order to highlight the plague of plastic pollution.

Shoppers at Waitrose encountered the model seated in a shopping trolley outside the main entrance. The label on his chest informing them he would still be around in 500 years - long after the trolley had rusted away.

The plastic man was packed with unrecyclable plastic packaging collected by Plastic Free Abergavenny members over a period of 3 months.

Member, Sue Harrison said, ‘We are all trying exceptionally hard to reduce single use plastic in our own food shopping to set a good example but a lot of the time it’s impossible to avoid it.’

After last year’s successful promotion of Plastic Free champions from the many independent cafes and food outlets who have given up using single use plastics the Plastic Free team decided it was time to tackle the supermarkets. Waitrose was first on their list with others to follow.

After what the campaigners described as constructive discussions with Peter Falcini, manager of the Abergavenny Waitrose store, the Plastic Free team set up a stand and handed out leaflets explaining what steps Waitrose is taking to reduce unrecyclable plastic packaging and to advise customers what they could also do to cut out plastic from their supermarket shopping.

Waitrose has pledged that all their own label packaging will be recyclable, reusable or home compostable by 2023, meaning that about 11,000 tonnes of non-recycled plastic will be replaced by more sustainable alternatives.

The company recently stopped providing plastic cups for takeout coffee, saving 52 million cups per year going to landfill or incineration.

Shoppers are advised to bring their own shopping bags, produce bags for bread and loose fruit and vegetables and reusable containers for meat, fish, cheese and takeout coffee cups.

Campaigners claim the customers spoken to were in agreement about the urgent need to reduce plastic and called for swifter action from supermarkets. Many customers said they would email the CEO to flag up concerns about packaging.

Campaigners also stated that while individual actions can make a difference, there needs to be government legislation to tackle the plastic waste issue.

In a statement, Plastic Free Abergavenny said, ‘If the new waste strategy proposed by the UK government comes into effect all supermarkets and producers of packaging waste will be required to cover the net costs of household recycling collections by local authorities.

‘Currently council tax payers pay for 90 per cent of the cost of collecting and disposing of household waste while the businesses that produce the packaging only contribute 10 per cent. Just think what that money could be spent on.’