Organic Food Wrapped in Plastic

Well, well, well. We meet again regarding another topic surrounding plastic usage. This subject might have crossed your mind throughout the self-sustainability journey that we’ve been on, especially when you’re going to buy groceries and you see all those plastic-wrapped fruits and vegetables. Before we became aware of the amount of plastic and the impact it has on the planet, it seemed pretty normal and perhaps made sense. Therefore, this week we’re going to wrap our minds around the pros and cons of this distribution practice!

Right off the bat, we can all agree on the following chains of thought:

• The packaging helps protect the food during its transportation, from the moment it is shipped away to our local stores;

• There’s a decrease in food waste, as it reduces contamination from pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms;

• Prolonged shelf life, including the preservation of its appearance, taste, freshness, and scent.

As we can see, there are some good points regarding the resource/environmental side of it that we cannot fully deny. However, after leaving it to the professionals this year, we found out that, in fact, it’s quite the opposite in the majority of situations, and we’re not even including the unrecyclable plastic into the equation! It really is a case of not judging a book by its cover/food by its package, if I dare say.

Studies found that packaging actually increases food waste because it often makes us buy more than what we exactly need! In addition to that, some packaging might also introduce chemicals that can infiltrate the food inside.

Now, we find ourselves in a wrapped pickle, tackling two problems at once: food waste and plastic everywhere. So, what can be done about this? Lacking an official answer as it is an ongoing problem, we can draw a few conclusions taken from research and experience on the subject, to help you reduce your household food waste:

• Buy loose products, according to what you need.

• Store your fresh produce below 5ºC, this will help preserve it for long periods;

• When it comes to fruits and vegetables, stop looking at the “Best before” and date labels, because millions of tons of edible food are thrown away for that particular reason every year. In other words, evaluate the quality of the food before taking a decision;

As concerned consumers, we must try and reduce the amount of plastic we use in our everyday lives, so when it comes to groceries we should all try to go for products that are free from any sort of packaging! Ideally, if available near us, we should shop at our local farmer’s market and reduce our produce’s carbon footprint in the process.

Stay sharp and we’ll see you next week!