Asian supermarkets are replacing plastic packaging with banana leaves

Even though we all ‘know’ that plastic’s a f**ken massive problem for the environment, it’s been bloody difficult to get supermarkets and manufacturers to cut down on packaging and do their bit to help the environment. Of course, those guys have their reasons – like the branding on their packaging – but it’s something that’s just going to have to happen. Fortunately, one supermarket in Chiangmai has decided it can at least get the ball rolling.

Rightio, as you can tell, we’re heading to bloody Chiangmai in northern Thailand for this one. Their answer is simple. Wrap s**t in banana leaves. They’re biodegradable, they’re big enough and it’ll prevent tonnes of excess plastic making its way into households and waterways.

Credit: Perfect Homes Chiangmai

Credit: Perfect Homes Chiangmai

Now, with a cynical hat on it, it’d be easy to say this was just a trick to try and make them look a bit bloody trendy, and if it is, who cares. They’ve shown us that this s**t can work. We just need the big manufacturers and providers to follow suit and we’ll be onto something pretty f**ken bonza!

Credit: Perfect Homes Chiangmai

When one of the team members from Perfect Homes Chiangmai ventured into Rimping Supermarket, they discovered that nothing on the shelves was plastic and all the packaging was biodegradable. “When I noticed the veg wrapped in banana leaves and simply liked the idea and showed my wife who picked a few up to buy. I thought I would take a few pictures and just post to the page, and that was it.”

Credit: Perfect Homes Chiangmai

But, obviously, that wasn’t it. Yeah, nah, people on the internet loved the pictures, showing that there is a demand for this sort of s**t. “I had no idea it was going to go viral, I was shocked when it hit 20 shares. It was not until the morning while I was in the gym that I started to realised what was happening, I pointed out to Stig my friend that it had now something like a thousand shares and that this was crazy. Once we had finished the session an hour later it had nearly doubled that is when it really started to go off!”

Credit: Perfect Homes Chiangmai

Final thought: This is a f**ken great idea, but let’s be honest, if the shop-owner is just chucking the plastic in the bin out back and rewrapping the produce, it’s not really solving much. All of us have to vote with our wallets and show the producers that we want less packaging. Also, how long before this packaging shows up in trendy organic food markets here?

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Video Link: Thaivisa – The Nation News

H/T: BORED PANDA.