If you read the headlines, you might think that the world is in the midst of a doomsday situation. But if you look with more hopeful eyes, you’ll see a slow, but sure, progress that aims to change our world for the better.
Stopping and reversing global warming is one task our world faces.
And people are coming up with amazing innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint, like creating plant-based plastics that disintegrate or roads from plastic ocean pollution.
Supermarkets in Thailand and Vietnam have come up with an extremely clever and green way to eliminate plastic packaging. Instead of plastic packaging, some stores are reportedly using banana leaves to package grocery items.
According to a report by Credit Suisse, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
There was even a dead whale that washed ashore in the Philippines with more than 88 pounds of trash in his belly, according to Vice. And Vietnam ranks as the fourth place globally with the most plastic waste dumped into the ocean.
So that’s why clever people are coming up with ways to keep plastic out of the ocean. Rimping supermarket in Chiangmai, Thailand decided they would do their part by eliminating their plastic supermarket packaging.
Supermarkets like Lotte Mart in Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon Co. op and Big C in Hanoi are also testing banana leaves in place of their plastic packaging.
Though Lotte Mart is still in the testing phase, they plan to incorporate leaves as packaging in all of their nationwide stores. They plan to also use it for fresh meat products as well.
“When I see vegetables wrapped in these beautiful banana leaves I’m more willing to buy in larger quantities. I think this initiative will help locals be more aware of protecting the environment,” local customer Hoa told Vice.
Big C also uses biodegradable bags made from corn powder. More and more places around the world are banning or reducing their use of plastic bags. South Korea is one country that has banned the use of disposable plastic bags.
Singapore supermarkets are offering shoppers discounts and incentives to reduce their plastic bag use. And Taiwan now charges for single-use plastic bags.
But they are new to the game.
China banned its use of thin plastic bags way back in 2008. Since then they’ve managed to prevent the use of 40 billion bags and have dropped their plastic bag use by a whopping 66 percent.
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