Zero-waste groceries: Can buy enough to eat without plastic packaging? : Shots

Nuts and dried fruit gadgets at a grocery retailer.

Martha Bebinger/WBUR

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Martha Bebinger/WBUR

Nuts and dried fruit gadgets at a grocery retailer.

Martha Bebinger/WBUR

I did not see the skinny plastic thread working between one leaf on my pineapple and its tag after I put the pineapple in my procuring cart, after I checked out or after I unpacked groceries at dwelling. It wasn’t till I chopped off the highest and tug on the tag that it hit me.

I’d damaged the foundations once more.

That rattling plastic tag tie joins the lengthy checklist of errors I made in only one week of attempting to eat plastic-free.

I had challenged myself to buy per week’s price of meals without bringing dwelling any plastic in my grocery bag. That meant no jugs of juice, yogurt containers, cellophane home windows in chip luggage, plastic packages and even stickers on some produce.

Why did I do that? Because very few of the plastic packages and containers we use as soon as get recycled. Because there’s rising concern concerning the harmful health effects. Some research means that ingesting microplastics might disrupt hormone manufacturing or be related to issues like bronchial asthma and studying issues.

Though scientists have not confirmed the link, I simply do not love the concept I could devour a credit card’s worth of plastic in per week.

I selected a price range of $115.00 (roughly half-way between the common weekly grocery invoice for a household of two in Massachusetts and the meals stamp allotment for that very same family). On a Saturday afternoon, I pulled into the car parking zone of my native chain grocery retailer feeling fairly plastic-aware, not prepared for the butt-kicking I used to be about to get.

The experiment

I began within the produce part, the place I sometimes seize a plastic bag of natural child carrots. They’re off limits, as is just about each vegetable within the natural part. I discovered some superbly bunched carrots among the many non-organic produce. Then I noticed the plastic tags hanging off their rubber bands. I noticed a dozen free ones down by the produce shelf drain and scooped them up, sans bag.

I rolled my cart previous the cauliflower, inexperienced beans, asparagus, lettuces and grapes, all glinting inside their plastic. I weighed free beets, apples, onions and candy potatoes. My nervousness kicked in — that feeling that I would not have enough. So, I purchased a head of cabbage.

Miami, Florida, Winn-Dixie grocery retailer, contemporary reduce fruit on the market in refrigerated case.

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

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Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

Miami, Florida, Winn-Dixie grocery retailer, contemporary reduce fruit on the market in refrigerated case.

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

I tapped costs into the calculator on my telephone. Leaving the produce part, I used to be in good condition, at $31.30. It was time to seek for protein.

I do not eat meat. But I headed to the meat counter to store for one in all my sons. Everything prepackaged was in plastic, however the man behind the glass kindly agreed to wrap two hamburger patties and a few hen, individually, in butcher paper. Together they had been $21.62.

Tofu, cheese, yogurt and just about every little thing within the dairy part was out. Even the bottled milk had a plastic cap. There had been numerous eggs in these paper pulp cartons. Whew.

To keep away from consuming eggs each meal, I obtained some cans of beans and rice in a field. I needed pasta, however the field had a cellophane window. I selected a model of spaghetti with the smallest window (1″x1″), telling myself that consuming lots of cabbage would earn me the appropriate to this violation.

If I used to be going to devour lots of cabbage, I’d want some oil or salad dressing. The seek for plastic-free oil and vinegar took me into the “home of mirrors” stage of my plastic-free odyssey.

There had been numerous choices in glass bottles. After cautious tapping, I discovered some with metallic lids. But the bottles with metallic lids all had a plastic seal, apart from one model of sesame oil and one other of pink wine vinegar. The vinegar label was peeling away at one nook. And that made me marvel: what are jar labels fabricated from? You most likely guessed: many are plastic. The sesame oil and rice wine vinegar went again on the shelf, as did jars of marinara, salsa and juice.

I can stay without salsa and juice for per week. But I definitely didn’t volunteer to go per week without chocolate. I spent lots of time within the sweet aisle earlier than discovering some bars wrapped in foil, packaged in a field.

At checkout, I added the labels on paper-wrapped beef and hen to my checklist of disgrace (I noticed they’re plastic). Then when the cashier scanned the barcode on bell peppers, I chalked up one other defeat. They every had little plastic stickers with barcodes. I purchased them anyway. I used to be hungry, discouraged and prepared to transfer on.

I nonetheless had $21.96. Maybe I might discover a bulk retailer — with bins of nuts or vats of oil that I can pour into non-plastic containers – to substitute a number of the gadgets I had to put again.

To the majority shops

Refilling bottles with items like olive oil is a technique to reduce down on packaging.

Martha Bebinger/WBUR

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Martha Bebinger/WBUR

Refilling bottles with items like olive oil is a technique to reduce down on packaging.

Martha Bebinger/WBUR

At dwelling, I scanned some zero-waste websites and made just a few calls. Several shops had bulk oil and vinegar, however I’d have to buy their bottle with a plastic lid and label, dissipate the contents and convey it again in for a refill. Pemberton Farms, in Cambridge, mentioned I might herald my very own mason jars. They had bread wrapped in paper and bulk gadgets like cereal and nuts in bins, the latter of which put me $1.23 over price range — however was price each almond.

While I’m out of cash, I would need to do that once more, so I had some questions for normal supervisor Greg Saidnawey. Pemberton Farms is called a zero-waste procuring vacation spot, however there are nonetheless many issues I could not buy right here plastic-free. There was no dairy, juice, peanut butter or tahini choices without plastic.

Saidnawey says he used to have greater than 300 meals and spices in bulk. That shrank to about 100 gadgets throughout the pandemic. And Saidnawey says he would not anticipate to add extra bulk procuring choices anytime quickly.

“There was a lot ahead momentum in zero waste, particularly within the Boston space, earlier than COVID,” Saidnawey says. But throughout the pandemic, “clients simply needed peace of thoughts. They did not desire a damaged seal; they did not need something that had already been touched by anyone else, and I feel we have simply gone in reverse in lots of methods.”

The CDC says the chance of getting COVID-19 after touching a contaminated floor is low, however Saidnawey says his plastic suppliers report they’ve by no means been busier. There’s one other issue that could be ramping up use of plastic in meals packaging. Plastics are made with fossil fuels. That trade is in search of new outlets within the shift to electrical autos.

Saidnawey says he is involved in utilizing extra compostable containers, however they’re 30-40% dearer. It’s exhausting to add that value to the rising worth of meals. And compostable containers for nuts, beans or snacks (lots of what Pemberton Farms affords in bulk) aren’t as engaging on cabinets as plastic.

“I would like to discover a bundle that is not going to wind up within the oceans or a landfill perpetually,” Saidnawey says, however “clients store with their eyes.”

My takeaways

My week of plastic-free consuming produced some fairly boring meals. I wasn’t ready. I did not notice what number of issues could be off limits. There are some zero-waste cookbooks, however I did not take a look at them earlier than I went procuring. And I did not price range for herbs or spices, issues which may have made life a bit extra thrilling.

To cut back my plastic use shifting ahead, I’m going to have to make extra issues from scratch, like hummus, marinara, salsa, possibly even yogurt. I’m switching manufacturers of juice so I can buy OJ and lemonade in reusable glass bottles. I’ll have to drive round a bit to discover extra bulk meals choices, and I might have to spend a bit extra on issues like cheese wrapped in paper. I’ve obtained to beef up my provide of refillable jars and possibly put money into a few of these reusable meals container luggage and that beeswax cling wrap different.

I requested Star Market, the place I shopped this week, what they’re doing to cut back plastic meals packaging. Star is owned by Albertsons, one of many largest meals retailers within the U.S. They pointed me to a web page concerning the firm’s plans to cut back plastic waste, which could imply utilizing much less plastic packaging. And Costco, the place I store just a few occasions a 12 months, says it is at the moment reviewing packaging of all merchandise to reduce plastic use.

Maybe we will sluggish a number of the projected growth in plastic we use as soon as and throw away, and major oil, gas and petrochemical corporations that make most of our plastic will shift to extra renewable merchandise. In the meantime, I goal to up my recreation. I averted utilizing 27 plastic containers and packages in a single week; I can do higher.

Need some tips about the place to begin? NPR’s Life Kit pulled collectively some helpful tips for beginning to audit the plastic in your life, even past your grocery checklist.

This story was produced by WBUR as a part of their e-newsletter, “Cooked: the search for sustainable eats.”