Packaging is big business.
The tide is turning though for
the type of packaging we are familiar with, especially in supermarkets. It’s now becoming apparent that you don’t
need to package anything that has its own packaging, swedes (turnips), bananas
coconuts, onions for example will cope quite well on their own without a layer
of polythene holding them together.
I thought I’d do my bit highlighting the issue of excess
packaging, not by painting a banner and scaring customers in supermarket
doorways, but by taking the items to the checkout without a bag. It was a bit messy I must confess and I did
spend quite a while rummaging under shelving looking for onions that rolled
from the conveyor belts.
I needed to be proactive so I have been tracking down alternative
plastic free packaging for the veggies. You won’t be surprised to learn most
vegetables were transported at one time by locally made hessian bags (you can
still get some now if you look hard enough) but I wanted to find some pull
string organic cotton bags large enough to hold a few pounds of oranges. I sourced
a few items, 3 30x40 cm pull bags and a nifty string bag with long handles.
The first issue I have with this type of packaging is that
you can’t buy the material or finished item locally. I bought them within a 200
mile radius but the material it was made from came from India, which is a
whopping carbon footprint.
That was the first stumbling block. The second issue I
realised is that each bag weighs in at 40g. That’s 40g worth of bag that you
are paying for at the checkout above and beyond the cost of the fruit and
vegetables every time you shop. I was thinking of making some up to sell (along
with the wax wrap cling film replacement) but I think these two flaws in my
idea are enough to stop the innovation going mainstream. I’m currently using the net bags to house my
oversized courgettes (1 to a bag) so at least I’m getting my use out of them. I
took my eye off the courgettes for just a week and they grew to marrows.
Less Packaging
The only real answer is for supermarkets and suppliers to do
away with packaging and if they must use a wrap, use a biodegradable one than
can be thrown on the compost heap instead of needing to be sent away to a
recycling centre. Remember “cellophane”? Originally that was made from hemp, wood or
cotton. That’s hopefully making a comeback so I don’t need to take my net bags
to the checkout.
I also bought some bamboo and wheat fibre toothbrushes as a
way of cutting out a bit more plastic in the house (only manufactured in China
at present though – I’m sure we can find an irish alternative such as willow
bark)). Along with plastic straws it won’t be long until plastic toothbrushes
are a thing of the past. Unlike the
straws though, I doubt they will make toothbrushes out of stainless steel. Whose
idea was that to make a straw from a rigid tube of steel? Paper and wax were ideal and certainly less
potential for an accident if you have children.
Red Pepper
I’ve harvested our first red pepper this week. There are a
few green ones still on the plant to ripen but this one was glowing so brightly
I actually though it was the label poking through the leaves. It went straight
into a stir fry with the runner beans which are still producing well. It’s
amazed me how sturdy the pepper, chilli and aubergine plants are as the dog has
done her best to flatten everything. She fills her time either sitting on
plants or digging around the stems so the plants fall over. I’ve found her in
the montbretia so many times that she has managed to kill of a large area in
the middle of the clump. I’d make a fortune if I could bottle whatever it is
that kills them as they are a bit of a pest. I’ll have to make her bed in the
nasturtiums to see if that keeps those down too. As we speak she is now sunbathing
in the middle of the new perennial border. I had put bamboo sticks in the
ground as a deterrent but she ate those first before making her nest. 
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