Earth Guardians Sri Lanka (EGSL) is a part of the worldwide Earth Guardians Network led by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.  The Earth Guardians are young activists on the front lines, driving action and fueling a cultural shift toward a regenerative future.

Earth Guardians Sri Lanka are aged 8 – 18 and are addressing climate-related and environmental issues in our home, the tropical island paradise of Sri Lanka.  

"There is a Climate Emergency and we are committed to making a positive difference through responsible activism for change." 

EGSL was founded in July 2019 by Satya Burgess. Her journey to EGSL began when she found herself more and more upset by the huge amount of Single Use Plastic bags and packaging on supermarket shelves and at the checkouts in Sri Lanka. Encouraged by her mum to be pro-active in her reactions, Satya founded EGSL, supported quickly by her friends and peers, all of whom are old enough to understand the damage to the country, and young enough to put in their time and energy for the future that they deserve. 

The first activity of EGSL is a campaign for more responsible use of plastic by supermarkets, both in packaging their products and how we the customers might take our purchases home.

EARTH GUARDIANS SRI LANKA request Supermarkets in our country to consider the future of our home, the world and what they will leave for us. We request the following Responsible Practices:

OUR REQUESTS TO THE SUPERMARKETS:
DO:
~Give us alternatives, particularly at weighing counters for fresh produce including meat, vegetables and fruit. Eg. a rattan/wicker basket to collect produce in before weighing, then we can place all in one big reusable bag.
~Be conscious that according to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka – it is up to the Retailer to bear the cost of packaging options as there is a current ban on charging the Customer for bags or wrappings. It seems, that Supermarkets are making their own decisions about what packaging/wrapping they supply and currently they are giving away huge quantities of Single Use Plastic bags. We ask for sustainable bags and wrappings from you like paper bags at checkout. Please don't transfer your entire responsibility to your Customer.
~Consider giving Educational Material  and training to your staff at supermarkets, on the serious dangers of Single Use Plastics and why they should make every effort, as you MUST, to Reduce.
~Give MORE than just signage encouraging the already-conscious Customer to be more sustainable at their own cost. We NEED you to care about all your Customers, your country and our planet. 

Consider future generations and your buisness' impact on the world, in light of your SUP policy of using the most breakable; and therefore dangerous disposable plastic and double bagging it because it is fragile for exactly that reason. We'd prefer the option of paper or cardboard boxes, to compliment our own reusable bag expenses. 

DON’T:

~Expect your Customer to be waste-conscious, while you take almost no measures
yourself. We ask that you SHARE the responsibility of Waste & Packaging with your customer – you are big enough to make a huge difference with just a little effort. 
~Supply Biodegradable bags for meat/fish at ONLY your Colombo 3 and 7 outlets –
ALL your customers and outlets deserve the same options to reduce waste.
~Put plastic cups out on display and expect us to be satisfied with a paper straw. Instead, pour juice on demand into paper cups or look at other options.
~Charge your Customers for reusable bags or plastic nets for vegetables, encourage better practices without making more money from Customer goodwill, guilt or consciousness.
~Put your cut vegetables on Display, using more unnecessary cling film packaging. 
Do consider a photo instead and save wastage too – one fruit display across hundreds of outlets equals hundreds of plastic wrappings and wasted fruit.

The amount of single use plastic that we are using (not just in supermarkets) is out of control and also avoidable, and here's why we need to make a change:

By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
Plastic NEVER bio-degrades, even when we think it is gone it has actually become micro particles that are in our water, out at sea and even in the food we eat. Plastic is killing the wildlife in the Oceans and we would still like to see turtles and fish when we are adults. The toxins from the process of making plastic contributes to global warming.
This really frightens us and we believe that we must make a change, so we have decided to initiate this petition and work towards raising awareness of both the petition and the irresponsible usage.  As a next step, once we get enough signatures we intend to try and meet with the CEOs of the Supermarkets to present our proposals.
Please share, and support us as we ask the Supermarkets to take more responsibility.