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Consumers ripped off on fresh fruit and vegetables, charged more for loose produce than plastic wrapped equivalent: new report - Australian Marine Conservation Society (www.marineconservation.org.au)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't want Plastic? You gotta tax it.

Good thing protectionism is on the rise again. A border tax on plastic could be implemented.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, what a world, ask people to do the sane thing, nope, literally no shits given.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I see people bringing canvas bags to the shop, but still use the mini plastic bags for produce. Wtf? Buy some of the reusable mini bags and keep them with your canvas bags? Must save on helmets having such thick skulls.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Years ago, i started reusing those older, heavier plastic bags, instead of getting new ones of those thin compostable bags that you usually see now.

This is 8 or 10 years ago now, i still have some of those and reuse them for my shopping now. Single use my bum!

Problem i sometimes have with buying reusables is, are we actually getting into negative waste territory when we conduct these practices. Generally reusable mesh bags will be more polluting to produce, so if they are lost, or broken sooner than they cross that threshold, the whole activity has ended up being a net negative.

You see the same issue with lots of reusable things of course, as i'm sure people are well aware of.

[–] DillyDaily 1 points 3 weeks ago

I do it mostly so when I get home I can add to my stash of bags for scooping doggy poop.

It seems crazy to buy a roll of brand new plastic bags for dog poo when produce bags are available, and I'm buying produce. For certain vegetables they actually store well in the bags with a tea towel thrown in, so sure a container, and mesh bag would do the same job, but then I'd also need to buy dog poo bags and that feels like a waste.

I keep the plastic packaging from the frozen Peas and the sliced bread and between that and produce bags I've got enough. I could buy compostable/biodegradable bags if I'm worried about waste, but I don't have access to composting so it's still going in landfill and it doesn't break down properly there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I believe it, but like, why? I really want to know what drives that kind of decision.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I's thinking for pre-packaged, as in before it gets to the store, it'd be a difference in handling and shelf stocking at the store level.

And plastic would protect from bugs, and humans doing things to the fruit and veg that they don't actually buy. I's told by a friend that people will stick their nails into apples, piercing the skin, as some kind of subtle test of the fruit. Maybe thats part of it.

But i dont know. Maybe the grocery stores think think the plastic makes it last longer. Until i read this article last night i thought that was the undisputed case.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I could only quickly find https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/24/plastic-packaging-increases-fresh-food-waste-study-finds for a reference to this wrap study. It mentions

Wrap studied the five items: apples, bananas, broccoli, cucumber and potatoes, stored in the original packaging and loose, and at different temperatures.

I don't think this a good selection of items to demonstrate plastic doesn't extend product shelf life. Personally I actually put a lot of veg in resealable bags to extend how long it lasts. Overall it definitely works for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Nice one. Always good to check these sorts of claims further.

[–] Iceblade02 3 points 3 weeks ago

Pre-packaging moves a decent amount of spoilage from the shop to the customer. Nobody will want to choose the somewhat sad-looking fruit/veggie when they're loose, but they can easily be hidden in a bag of 10.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

i’ve always just assumed it’s a “buy 10 get a discount” situation… but yeah it’s pretty annoying

[–] themeatbridge 1 points 3 weeks ago

Loose produce generates a lot more wasted produce because people pick through for the best looking apples. Plastic packsging reduces the cost to the retailer.

If we want to reduce plastic, it has to be at the manufacturing and packaging step. Add the cost of pollution to the cost of creation. If we try to just tax convenience to death at the point of consumption, it will never work and it will make a lot of people angry.