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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 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days 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] 4 points 4 days ago

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

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

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

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

This is a review of supermarkets, but with regards to the independent grocers I always assumed it was related to quality. The bagged fruits and vegetables tend to be older or less ripe.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days 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 days 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 2 days ago

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

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

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (2 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] 6 points 3 days ago

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days 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.