Andy Clarke, who spent six years leading one of the U.K.'s largest supermarkets, said after seeing a "never-ending stream of initiatives" to curb plastic waste, the only solution left was for retailers to reject plastic entirely in favour of more sustainable alternative like paper, steel, glass and aluminium.

“Go into any supermarket in the country and you will be met by a wall of technicolour plastic, be it fruit and veg or meat and dairy, plastic encases virtually everything we buy,” he said.

“Unlike material like aluminium and glass, plastic packaging cannot be recycled ad infinitum. Most items of plastic packaging can only be recycled twice before they become unusable. Recycling will never offer a durable solution to the plastic crisis — we simply have to use less plastic in the first place.”

Around 1m plastic bottles are bought a minute, with production projected to double within the next two decades and quadruple by 2050, according to the Guardian.

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