The nation’s nine major retailers are not performing well in terms of eliminating plastic packaging, Greenpeace said in a report released on Tuesday.
The retailers — from hypermarkets to convenience stores — are carrying out sporadic programs to reduce plastic packaging, but do not have any sustainable plans in that regard, said Greenpeace Taiwan campaigner Chang Kai-ting (張凱婷), who focuses on plastic reduction.
“None of the retailers have a comprehensive or systematic plan for cutting the use of plastic packaging,” Chang said.
It would be best if the companies drew up a schedule for phasing out plastic packaging and implemented some systematic plans, she said.
There should also be better communication between retail employees and customers to promote reusable packaging, Chang said.
Greenpeace is urging retailers to check their use of plastic packaging and make the results public, she said.
The nation’s biggest retail chain, PX Mart, is doing better than the other major retailers in reducing the use of plastic packaging, but still scored only 22.7 out of 100, the report said.
Among other measures, PX Mart has promised to include data on its plastic packaging in its annual corporate social responsibility report, starting next year, the report said.
The other retailers — Costco, Carrefour, RT-Mart, A.mart, Wellcome, FamilyMart, 7-Eleven and Simple Mart — scored an average of 11.6 points in the report.
Simple Mart scored 1.1, which reflects that the company does not provide adequate information about its plastics policy or take measures to eliminate single-use plastics, Greenpeace said.
Chang said it is important for retailers in Taiwan to join global efforts to reduce plastic packaging.
Only 14 percent of plastic waste worldwide is recycled, while 32 percent is improperly discarded, 40 percent is buried in landfills and 14 percent is burned in incinerators, the report said.
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