• Tygr@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Cool, so we’re going to eliminate all the plastic in packaging at supermarkets and retail, right? Right?

    • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Plastic at supermarkets is very effective at reducing food spoilage. Ditching the plastic will result in much more food hitting the bin, and higher food costs. Given all that binned food must be created and transported again, it’s a huge net negative for the environment.

      • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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        4 months ago

        If only there was some other way we can protect bananas, like a thick outer layer we could peel off.

        • Sixner@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Microplastics have been found in a fair number of foods already. Fish especially.

          I’m on board with reducing plastics, but grocery stores are lower on the list than say… All the non food stores like hardware, hobby, and clothing stores.

          It’s a tall order overall, any progress is a step on the right direction.

        • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Everything is a tradeoff. Until we develop a coat effective solution for maintaining freshness (and the other varieties of plastics usage), it’s more or less the best option we have for now.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            I would say a better option would to be stores only selling local (or at least regional) produce when it’s fresh and local produce that can survive the winter without spoiling when it isn’t. And no, don’t make this the responsibility of the consumer. Don’t even give the consumer the option of buying kiwis grown in Chile when it’s February and they’re in Chicago.

      • xmunk
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        4 months ago

        There are other effective ways to package food for retail they just tend not to be transparent.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        4 months ago

        mycelium wrappers can be pretty effective, and just as inexpensive, once producers are prodded into compliance.

      • pageflight@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Eating local/seasonal reduces the need for long shelf life. Not always possible, but industrial agriculture definitely pushes us away from it and is something policy could help reverse.

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        100%.

        Plastic works for beverage containers, but aluminum does a better job anyway. We should just use aluminum, always. There are even aluminum containers with screw tops, plastic is just unnecessary.

          • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Ok, glass is acceptable. They’re both technically infinitely recyclable (unlike plastic).

            Although it is easier to get aluminum back to a usable state. You can for instance melt down a whole vat of aluminum and reprocess the whole lot of it. But a similar vat of mixed glass, you can melt it down but it’s hard to get all the color out of a mix of clear brown and green bottles, and you really want a clear base product.