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So Much Produce Comes in Plastic. Is There a Better Way?
- optimussupreme 3y agoSo often, there is so much unnecessary packaging, box in the box, in the bag in the bag in the box, I wouldn't mind if a product or food is packaged much simpler
- simonblack 3y agoI wouldn't mind if a product or food is packaged much simpler I'm ancient enough to remember that when you took your grocery list to the grocery shop, there weren't many shelves that had packets of whatever for sale. Mainly the store had a whole series of large bins: one for flour, one for sugar, another for salt, etc. You read out the list and the man would scoop up what you had ordered and put in into a brown-paper bag. In today's world, that business-model is too labor-intensive. Better that you buy a standardised amount of product that a machine can measure out more cheaply and more speedily than any man can. But that product now has to travel the country instead of just back to your place, so it needs more robust packaging, and that packaging needs to be labelled clearly so you know what you are buying. That entails an inner plastic, sealable bag, and a firm cardboard printed outer packaging. Progress? Perhaps.
- SSLy 3y agoFlour and sugar is sold in paper bags...
- ssl-3 3y agoAnd both salt and baking powder are normally sold in cardboard tubes -- not plastic. But these numerous little exceptions don't invalidate OP's observation, wherein: Our needs have broadly changed, and thus so has our packaging.
- shiroiushi 3y agoMost sugar I see sold (and probably flour too) is sold in plastic bags, not paper. You can probably find the really huge sizes in paper, but the smaller sizes that most people want (because of convenience, they don't want to buy a decade's worth of sugar at one time) are usually in plastic.
- Sabinus 3y agoThe paper is probably lined with plastic to keep moisture out.
- gruez 3y agoAt least for flour and white granulated sugar it looks exactly like uncoated paper.
- petre 3y agoIt can be waxed paper, accomplishes the same purpose. I have an issue with disposable plastic food containers. So obnoxious. Some processed food has more packaging than actual food. Like plastic sushi boxes with the stupid plastic grass between the pieces. A recent plastic bottle and aluminium can tax was introduced in my country, thanx to the EU, which has led me to change my behaviour from avoid to avoid at all costs. Scientists found microplastics in clogged arteries. Soon we won't have just high cholesterol, but also "high plastics" in our bloodstream, as if plthalates that were linked to high cholesterol were not enough.
- maximus-decimus 3y agoSo everything was like Bulk Barn? That would definitely get us rid of shrinkflation.
- scrubs 3y agoExample lennywich for dine in order of 1 burger and 1 hardboiled egg: Egg in plastic container with lid Burger wrapped in 3 layers of paper and one layer of foil Above put into plastic bag with napkins 20 mins later all in trash all of which happens 10ft from cashier. Crazy bad
- tangjurine 3y agohttps://archive.ph/JyQ9U https://archive.ph/JyQ9U
- add-sub-mul-div 3y agoThe ban on plastic grocery bags has always felt silly to me when you can still walk out of the store with a 24 pack of bottled water, or candy where every individual piece is wrapped in plastic. And there's probably examples like that in every aisle.
- dieselgate 3y agoOr banning plastic straws but still using plastic lids on the same drink.
- arcticbull 3y agoIf we think plastic is bad then wouldn't banning any of it be better than banning none of it? Wouldn't the answer be to ban more, not less? What's wrong with incremental improvements? We don't have to hit a home run on our first try.
- dieselgate 3y agoI Don’t disagree with you at all but it’s ironic at the least. Certain items become hot button and people have trouble seeing the full picture
- agallant 3y agoIf it truly worked as a series of incremental improvements, and considered total carbon footprint (transportation costs etc.), then sure. Those are two pretty big "ifs" - people can be inclined to satisfice and pat themselves on the back for having done some minor symbolic thing, and then not go deeper. And it's much easier to sacrifice plastic straws than question whether your "bucket list" should really have a ton of carbon intensive global travel.
- ehnto 3y agoStraws were also banned because of their immediate impact on ocean life, the same reason we got rid of plastic ring 6 pack can holders. Animals get them lodged in their bodies.
- sriram_malhar 3y agoI really love Berkeley Bowl (in Berkeley, CA) not just for its unpackaged and quality produce but for the extent to which I can go completely plastic free. I can use my own bags for produce and my own containers for a massive range of items sold in bulk (flour, grains, nuts, cereal, pasta to name a few). And then a few others that I have not seen elsewhere: I can fill up my own bottles with shampoos, detergents and oils!
- 1letterunixname 3y agoThere's nothing like the Berkeley Bowl <3. It's Trader Joe's + Davis co-op on crack^2^5. Various cities around the West Coast and Austin also have co-op grocery stores, but Berkeley Bowl takes it to a different hypermart level while retaining a flavor reminiscent of Whole Earth Access. And, honestly, even the Whole Foods (Amazon) flagship HQ store is a disgrace and a disaster: they don't sell any form of pita or lavash bread of any sort and half of their bulk bins are completely empty as of writing. This is a consequence of corporate bean counters who optimize for the wrong things. They were supposedly once a boutique bougie grocery store patterned after Italian grocers but instead developed into conspicuous consumption of pseudo luxury by anyone who drives an Audi or BMW.
- rgovostes 3y agoMy nearest grocery store was a Whole Foods for a couple of years. Their product selection is incomprehensibly bad. There were something like 6 kinds of alternative chickpea-crust frozen pizza brands but no plain flour tortillas. Freshly baked bread was almost never stocked. A virtually untouched naturopathy aisle but barely the medicine cabinet essentials.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoThe global WF HQ has tortillas, but they're neither local nor authentic. The customer service person proclaimed I should use tortillas instead. Gobsmacked by the unprofessionalism of that, it was the last time I've been to WF.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 3y agoIn SE Asia, food comes wrapped in a variety of different leaves.
- vouaobrasil 3y agoIn the places I've shopped, the produce is just loose, and I put it in my cart loose. I don't buy the packaged produced, period. Plastic packaging should be banned, along with drinks in plastic bottles. It can be done and it wouldn't affect life in a serious way.
- Permik 3y agoSo much of the current single use plastic packaging could be easily replaced with cellophane. Being biosourced, compostable and biodegradable would address the difficulty of plastic recycling.
- wuming2 3y agoMy wife received a new phone case today. Hard to brake by design and function it was already encased in it’s retail box. And wrapped in a bubble bag. And in a plastic bag. And in another plastic bag.
- skzv 3y agoThe waste is one issue, but personally I am also worried about the consequences of the constant and inescapable exposure to plastics on our health.