Save-On-Foods and Ocean Wise are teaming up to celebrate Plastic Free July and take action against plastic pollution with the #PlasticChallenge.
The challenge includes four easy steps:
1. Audit your waste – pull your trash can out to the yard and sort through it, tracking items on the Ocean Wise Plastic Challenge data card.
2. Share your findings – submit your data online and tag our social media with the hashtag #PlasticChallenge to tell people what you found, and learn about ways to reduce your waste.
3. Reduce your waste – visit ocean.org/reduce_your_waste or follow Ocean Wise social to find easy ways to reduce your waste.
4. Check your progress – go back to your trash can and conduct a second audit…find out where your household has improved and where there is still work to do Year after year Ocean Wise finds plastic waste on our shorelines.
In fact, plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris, impacting marine species due to entanglement, ingestion and habitat destruction. Scientists have found microplastics in our drinking water, food and even in our bodies, raising concerns about the impact on human health.
The issue is critical enough that on June 20, 2022 the government of Canada announced its plan to ban six single-use plastic items including checkout bags, cutlery, hard-to-recycle food containers, ring carriers, stir sticks and straws.
The plan comes into effect through 2023 and is expected to eliminate over 1.3 million tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste and more than 22,000 tonnes of plastic pollution. But our ocean does not have to wait for the ban to take effect before every one of us can make a difference.
For Plastic Free July
Ocean Wise and Save-On-Foods is encouraging Canadians to take the Ocean Wise Plastic Challenge; to learn about plastic waste in their own household and make a plan to reduce that waste. The Ocean Wise Plastic Challenge is easy to do and can be found online at ocean.org/plastic_challenge. “Our customers raise important questions and bring forward local, provincial, national, and even global opportunities for our company to make a difference. We listen to them and take action,” said Darrell Jones, president, Save-On-Foods. “It is critical that we all do our part to protect our environment,” added Jones. “The choices we make can play a critical role in what ends up in our ocean. Grocers, like SaveOn-Foods, can also play an important role in making it easier than ever to make plastic-free choices.” As part of their commitment to sustaining our resources and reducing pollution, Save-On-Foods has offered plastic bag collection bins for over 30 years.
Through this recycling program, 450 Tonnes of plastic film and plastic bags are kept out of our landfills and waste streams every year. Save-On-Foods was also one of the first Canadian retailers to voluntarily implement a charge to consumers for single-use plastic and paper checks and bags; reducing the company’s plastic bag use by 38% in the first full year. To date, this has stopped over 250 million plastic bags from ever entering our system and ultimately hitting our landfills. A Division of Save-On-Foods Limited Partnership, a Jim Pattison business The company also recently announced its plan to stop printing their paper flyer
