UK Supermarket Banned Palm Oil
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Have you ever thought that palm oil could be the cause of wildlife destruction? Well,it’s definitely affecting the natural world. This is, indeed the reason that why a supermarket in the UK has banned the use of palm oil.
Iceland, a supermarket in the UK has become the first supermarket to ban palm oil from its products by the end of the year. The reason is the rise in demand for palm oil, which is apparently linked to the destruction of swathes of wildlife. It has tumultuous effects on the rainforest, along with the habitats as well as people where it is grown.
Iceland has already opted an environment-friendly alternative such as sunflower oil. Presently, from soap to biscuits, 130 products in total contain palm oil. Well, the owner said that this move would lower the demand for palm oil by five-hundred tones.
Richard Walker, the managing director of Iceland, said that “Until Iceland can guarantee palm oil is not causing rainforest destruction, we are simply saying ‘no to palm oil.’ He further added, “We don’t believe there is such a thing as guaranteed ‘sustainable’ palm oil available in the mass market.”
The certification schemes of sustainable palm oil such as such as the RSPO and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) is continuously gaining criticism.
What’s worse?!
The terrible thing is, peat forests have a high fire risk. Well, each hectare of tropical peat that is drained for plantation development emits carbon dioxide that is roughly equal to burning more than six thousand gallons of gasoline.
Well, the company is responsible for clearing out the peatland and due to this, the billionaire owner of the Salim Group, Anthoni Salim is facing stress. Also, Citigroup announced that it wouldn’t fund IndoAgri, which is a palm oil subsidiary of the Salim Group.
When it comes to the local communities, they are the savior of the forest. The crucial thing is, if we want to bring the change for the kingdom of the forest, we have to change the focus of the industry.
I work in this store and I have to admit that I am proud of this initiative they took.
This is the supermarket I tend to go to. I was noticing that these products were slowly decreasing and couldn’t understand why. Now I perfectly know.
I hope more places ban it. This really needs to stop before we are left without these trees.
I’m glad that they’re taking this step! Many will surely complain for not receiving some of their preferred products, but better that then continuing to risk our environment. Some people just have to learn to adapt for the better.
I didn’t think it was causing so much damage. I guess I will have to stop using it then.