At the beginning of April, visitors to the Rye Market in Kyiv saw an unusual picture. A young man walked the shopping malls, buying vegetables, fruits, fish and putting all the shops in his own pockets.
Foodandmood learned who this eccentric was and why he did it. It turns out that these were staged shootings initiated by the public organization ReThink.
The absurd photo project called “Herring in your pocket” was to remind others that it is time to give up plastic bags and plastic and adjust to a meaningful and responsible consumption of the resources available to us. About 1 million plastic balls are used every day in Kyiv alone. This has sad consequences for the environment.
Change the package to…
It’s a pity, but buyers in the market have no alternative: if not a package, then where to put the products? There are many inconveniences. Simply banning packages is not effective if you do not give people a decent environmental replacement.
So smoked mackerel in his pocket was to symbolize the urgent need for an eco-alternative to the package. These can be:
- biological polymer or paper bags;
- linen bags;
- reusable fabric bags;
- bags and wrappers of plant components – starch, cellulose, oils.
Although, the safety of oxo packages, which allegedly decompose in 3 years, is also in doubt. The composition of such a biopackage contains a conventional polymer and a salt additive that promotes faster decomposition of polyethylene into pieces. Accordingly, toxic plastic does not disappear, just penetrates into the soil. Such packages are even worse than usual, which can theoretically be assembled and recycled.
“We need the package for an average of 20 minutes, but it lives for hundreds of years, killing lives around.” Disposable items that we use for minutes then end up in landfills, polluting the ecosystem for hundreds of years. This is one of the main reasons why people need to change their attitudes towards consumption, as ReThink co-founder Roman Puchko explains.
Photo: Andriy Prots. Hero in the photo: Roman Puchko.