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The packaging is to reduce food waste. Will it be a net loss or a win for the environment with more produce going bad?
by matsemann 5y ago
The packaging is to reduce food waste. Will it be a net loss or a win for the environment with more produce going bad?
- boudin 5y agoIt's not banning packaging, it's banning plastic packaging.
- whatever1 5y agoWhich is all of the packaging that can seal airtight things.
- comeonseriously 5y agoWhy does your fruit have to be in an air tight container?
- Y-bar 5y agoWhy do bananas, broccoli, bell peppers, potatoes and such vegetables require an airtight container? I see those and other produce regularly in plastic wrap or packaging here in Europe.
- foxfluff 5y agoI don't know about airtight but bananas have repeatedly made a tacky mess in my backpack. Also salads. Just the other week I had a tofu salad leak all over my backpack :( I'm now wrapping these in plastic bags.
- pvaldes 5y agoBecause by its nature they use gases as hormones so is important to control air exposure.
- phonypc 5y agoThere is a gaseous plant hormone (ethylene) that's relevant here, but it certainly doesn't indicate wrapping everything in airtight containers.
- superkuh 5y agoObviously not all produce requires it but plastic allows fine control of humidity/moisture. The green onions I buy sealed in plastic last about 3 times longer than those I buy without packaging. Food lasting a long time matters a lot to me, and many others, right now because I try to reduce my shopping trips as much as possible due to the pandemic.
- Y-bar 5y agoCan’t you put them in a reusable plastic/glass/metal/… container once you get home to make them last?
- superkuh 5y agoThe ones that aren't packaged properly (ie, with plastic) are already losing weeks of storage time while in shipping and waiting at the grocer.
- Y-bar 5y agoThis law is not preventing airtight packaging in weights above 1.5kg and I bet that the store will still get these produce shipped in weights above that. So, what I understand what you are saying is that the hour or so of you picking it up at the shop until you put it in your fridge will result in "losing weeks of storage time", but I can't understand how that is possible. Can you explain?
- superkuh 5y agoThrowing a bunch of produce together in large masses is generally a very good way of getting it to rot. Having it shipped, individually wrapped bundles in moisture controlled plastic bags, inside of larger containers, now that works.
- Y-bar 5y agoLike this for bananas? https://challengesworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/banana-crates.png https://challengesworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/b... Or this for potatoes? https://ijrorwxhniojmj5p.leadongcdn.com/cloud/mrBppKjpRmmSnjponlor/Agriculture-Use-pallet-box-food-grade.jpg https://ijrorwxhniojmj5p.leadongcdn.com/cloud/mrBppKjpRmmSnj... Or this for onions? https://cdn.w600.comps.canstockphoto.com/onions-on-pallets-stock-photograph_csp22496393.jpg https://cdn.w600.comps.canstockphoto.com/onions-on-pallets-s... How many examples do we need? All I see is you asserting something not evident in the real world.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoI don't know about those fruits and vegetables, but cucumbers in particular are often shrink-wrapped in plastic, for good reason. Without the plastic, they go bad much, much faster; a matter of days instead of weeks.
- Markoff 5y agoTBH cucumber would go bad for sure much faster than in weeks even in plastic I usually buy cucumber with intention if preparing something, but get to it like 1-2 weeks later when it starts to get already soft, while it's shrink wrapped, so I really doubt it's really matter of "weeks" unless you mean 2 weeks
- frosted-flakes 5y agoI do mean two weeks.
- thebean11 5y agoI don't think fruit and vegetables do well in airtight containers? Every plastic container I've seen has air holes in it.
- boudin 5y agoNo, there's alternative like corn starch based packages.
- Ericson2314 5y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk had me pretty convinced land use was the key to breaking through a bad food waste vs shelf-stable food trade-off.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago>The packaging is to reduce food waste I doubt it. In my supermarket, all the fruits in plastics bags/boxes are damaged more or earlier, because as soon as one of the fruit is in bad shape, no one buys the box and all fruits get ruined. The irony is that the organic fruits are put into a container (because they're more expensive and the store don't want people checking out expensive food as cheap) so if you want to buy organic for the environment, you're the one paying for plastics and for good waste.
- superkuh 5y agoI agree. This is incredibly stupid. The amount of food waste that will result will far outbalance the minor environmental impact of packaging. All that food requires lots of plastic in it's production cycle.
- onemoresoop 5y agoPeople have done okay without plastic containers before, it will be okay, trust me. There are biodegradable containers that can be used instead of plastic ones. Second, lots of incentives can be introduced to sell food about to go bad such as selling it cheaper or reuse it in different products such as juices for fruits and so on. The only limit here is creativity, really..
- VLM 5y agoProduce is mostly made out of natural gas and diesel, not plastic. Those plants aren't going to fertilize themselves LOL. As with most greenwashing announcements, the net result will be increased, not decreased, environmental damage. Burn more diesel planting and transporting food, make more fertilizer out of natgas, then wash it into rivers to cause algae blooms and dead zones... The other environmental effect will be decreasing the amount of fresh produce poor people have access to, eventually resulting in higher profits for health care industries. Think of it like an investment in turning pain and suffering into profit.
- JohnWhigham 5y agoPlastics shouldn't be around food, at all. They eventually leech into it.
- PestoDiRucola 5y agoIs it? I've noticed fresh produce bought in plastic packaging goes bad before the one I buy at the farmers market.