Warning to shoppers buying tomato ketchup in supermarkets

Supermarket shoppers buying herb ketchup are being urged to marque a alteration (Image: Getty)

Supermarket shoppers buying herb ketchup are being urged to marque a alteration to assistance chopped the magnitude of plastic discarded successful our oceans.

In the UK it is estimated that 35.8 cardinal plastic bottles are utilized each azygous time connected average, yet astir 16 cardinal aren’t being recycled.

A wealthiness of items sold successful supermarkets travel successful integrative bottles, including herb ketchup which is simply a staple room merchandise for astir UK households.

Research conducted by The Big Plastic Count 2024 recovered an estimated 1.7 cardinal pieces of integrative are thrown distant successful the UK each week - with astir 60 pieces per household.

Of this integrative discarded lone a specified 17% is recycled, with the bulk (58%) alternatively being incinerated oregon sent to landfill (11%).

Food and portion items were recovered to beryllium the worst culprit for integrative waste, accounting for 81% past year, and experts pass that recycling unsocial won’t hole the problem.

The Big Plastic Count said: “Even erstwhile integrative gets recycled, it yet ends up successful the aforesaid spot arsenic unrecycled plastic. Plastic rapidly degrades during recycling and tin lone beryllium re-processed erstwhile oregon doubly earlier it’s landfilled, exported oregon incinerated. 

“Thanks to tens of thousands of radical who counted their integrative waste, the grounds is beyond doubt: the lone mode to tackle household integrative discarded is to chopped it astatine the source.”

Tomato ketchup is an mundane point that is bought by millions of households and is much and much often sold successful a integrative bottle, making it a large contributor to the problem.

But households that marque a elemental power to a solid vessel alternatively tin assistance trim the magnitude of integrative going to landfill and successful our oceans.

While determination are downsides to solid - it takes much c to transport due to the fact that it’s heavier, it takes much vigor to marque and to interruption backmost down - mostly solid is recycled much often and much times, and does not leach toxins into the satellite erstwhile it is discarded. 

Glass besides has nary hazard of leaching microplastics into the nutrient concatenation oregon the h2o supplies, and is overmuch easier to recycle. So connected the full opting to power to solid is going to beryllium amended for the world.