DOES SHOPPING AT LENTILS AND LATHER MATTER? ASK THE UN
This is a guest post from Dr Elsa Devienne, a loyal Lentil & Lather customer based in Manchester and an environmental historian who is researching the history of anti-plastics activism. In this post, she tells us about why shopping at Lentil & Lather matters and how zero waste businesses have played an important role in the path towards a UN Plastics Treaty.
Hello fellow Lentil & Lather customers,
I am giving Carl a much-needed break from blog writing duties to tell you a bit about why shopping at Lentils and Lather matters. I know most of you probably don’t need to be convinced about why decreasing our reliance on plastics is important (plastic pollution is terrible for animals; plastics are full of dangerous chemicals harming our health; and plastics, which are made out of fossil fuels, are increasingly driving our carbon emissions and thus climate change), but sometimes, even with the best intentions, our motivation can flag. Maybe you’re finding it hard to see the point of it all when you see everyone merrily on their way to yet-another plastic Xmas extravaganza.
Well, I’m here to remind you that shopping at Lentils and Lather *does* matter! And not just because supporting small businesses keep our high streets vibrant (it does). Or because they have the healthiest, yummiest products (they do). But it matters at an international level. That’s right, you and I are having an impact on ongoing global negotiations.
This past weekend, a big conference organized by the United Nations was happening in Busan, South Korea, on the subject of plastic. This was the fifth and final conference in a process that has been going on for two years with the final goal being the signature of a major treaty to end plastic pollution (think of it as the Paris Accord, but for plastics).
Spoiler alert: we didn’t get the treaty. In the end, the oil/plastic producing countries managed to obstruct and derail the process.
BUT, and that’s a big but, there’s some good news. As Joan Marc Simon, founder of Zero Waste Europe explains, the high ambition countries (among which stands the UK!) refused a watered-down, weak treaty that would only deal with cleaning up plastic pollution. The high-ambition coalition is the one setting the narrative in this discussion: what we need is a strong treaty that takes into account the full life cycle of plastics from production to disposal. The key thing here is whether or not the treaty will impose limits on plastic production. If we don’t turn off the plastic tap, we can never deal with the problem. The nations have now one more year to thrash out a text. And we all have a role to play in what happens next.
Turn Off The Plastic Tap
By artist Benjamin Von Wong. This 30-foot-tall art installation was showcased at the third and fourth rounds of Plastic Treaty negotiations, respectively in Nairobi (2023) and Ottawa (2024). It helped set the narrative for the discussions: #TurnOffThePlasticTap is key to a strong, future-proof Plastic Treaty © Von Wong Productions
Businesses like Lentil & Lather are part of a global, citizen-led anti-plastic movement. While we might think that anti-plastic (or zero-waste) activism started only recently with the BBC Blue Planet 2 (2017) and other documentaries that showcased the extent of ocean plastic pollution, it is as old as plastic itself. From unions defending cancer-stricken workers in plastic plants in the 1970s, to the women who started the first citizen science beach cleanups in the 1980s, people have been demanding accountability from plastic producers for a long time. But it’s definitely picked up pace in the last few years and the creation of Lentils and Lather in 2019 is a testament to that.
Paulina contemplating shortly before Lentils and Lather opened it’s doors in 2019.
Civil society has a big role to play in the future of the Plastic Treaty negotiations. The more noise we make, the more passionately we advocate, the better our chances are to defeat plastic producers (who are the ones ultimately lobbying against the treaty).
What can you do (besides continue to shop at Lentils and Lather)?
Tell people about the plastic treaty and why shopping at L&L can lead the change towards a (mostly) plastic-free future.
Write to your MP to tell them that you want a strong Global Plastic Treaty that tackles plastic production (I wrote to mine, Andrew Gwynne, using the template provided by The Big Plastic Count/Greenpeace and he immediately replied in full agreement)
Sign up for emails from Break Free from Plastic, Zero Waste Europe and the Big Plastic Count (some of the organisations fighting plastic pollution)
Stay tuned for more guest posts on topics ranging from the most bonkers moments in the history of anti-plastics activism to my favorite zero-waste recipes.
Do you want to get in touch about plastics and how we can act locally? Do you have ideas for event and collaborations on that topic? Or do you just want to connect? Email me at: elsa.devienne@northumbria.ac.uk or follow Elsa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elsa-devienne-4b9069228/