It started slowly. First we stopped giving away plastic bags for free. Then water bottles died a quick death. Now, in a revolutionary move, European grocery stores are ready to call it quits – completely.

After marathon meetings behind closed doors that apparently started back in 2017, we have learned that consumers will have two options starting from 1 July. Shoppers will be able to bring their own Tupperware-like containers or they could choose to pay more for products with edible protective skins. The use of durable plastics is still not the ideal, but the edible packaging solutions that are currently on the market still need to scale.

CEO of German grocery chain Aldi, Mr Otto Nebe, tweeted that the change will lead to massive savings. “Before, the non-recycling of water bottles and sauce containers alone equalled just over 1 billion Euro in the EU. Going forward, we’ll win in terms of resources and cost. Beats me why we did not do it sooner!”

It’s quite brilliant if you think about it: consumers won’t stop consuming and now the full burden of packaging waste has been shifted on to the end user. In this instance, big business has lead the way and done the right thing. Now it’s Tom, Dick and Harry who have to step up to the plate and stop doing what has always been too easy: chucking everything into the trashcan.

Or you can just eat it.