New plastic expiry date stickers have now started to appear on some supermarket products - and here's the reason why.
Two budding entrepreneurs have designed these stickers in an effort to raise public awareness about the astonishing lifespan of some single-use plastics.
Advertising creatives Gagandeep Jhuti and Joe Foale-Groves created Plastic Expiry Date stickers for single-use meal deal packaging to help inform consumers about how it affects the planet.
More than a thousand stickers have appeared this month in supermarkets around London, but stickers have also been spotted around the rest of the UK as eco-friendly shoppers try to help spread the message.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, Gags and Joe explained how their idea came about.
They said: "So imagine this. It’s the year 3019. Animals can now be tried in court. The prisons are overflowing with pigeons. You are no longer around.
"But the plastic water bottle you bought with your meal deal in 2020 has finally started to decompose. Even if the future isn’t quite as weird as that, it is true that your meal deal could be pretty much immortal."
Revealing their ambitions, the duo said: "The ultimate goal would be for supermarkets to add the Plastic Expiry Date to packaging themselves, as well as hurrying to remove single-use plastic packaging from their shelves."
If you want to find out more about the movement, follow @PlasticExpiry on Twitter, or head to their website.
