No Plastic Please

Yesterday, we went produce shopping. I was amazed at the fact that organic produce has to be wrapped in plastic. In order to be a certified organic store, this is one rule that has to be followed. I guess the organic produce can not come in contact with anything else, so they wrap it in plastic. This just isn’t organic in our mind. Plastic wrap, with a Styrofoam tray is NOT organic in the least. I am not sure who came up with this rule, but it seems to defeat the purpose of the produce being organic in the first place. Organic food should be wrapped in something organic….like paper. Now, I know some of you out there are saying “eeekkk” no not paper. Paper comes from trees, and if we used paper, then we would have to cut down trees. Okay, cut down trees. Trees are renewable. Plastic is not. Put a piece of paper under 6 inches of dirt. Now put a piece of plastic wrap. The paper will have dissolved back into the earth within a few months to a year. Plastic wrap will sit there for years. So we will be giving our children and grandchildren an Earth filled with plastic wrap. The styrofoam will be there for at least the next 3 generations.

The other thing that struck me was the amount of prepackaged salads, and other produce blazing the isles. There were at least 5 kinds of prepackaged salads. Along with them were prepackaged tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, and others. I understand that the prepackaged salads are a time saver. But how much time does it really save. What is wrong with buying the lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and celery separately and make it yourself at home. Besides the fact that the prepackaged salads are not as good a quality as picking your own. Imagine 200 people a day buying the prepackage salads. Take that and multiply by 200 grocery stores. That is 40,000 bags a day ending up in the landfills. This is just a small example of what the real numbers are. Imagine this happening all over the country on a daily basis. Imagine how many plastic bags are ending up in our landfills….just from prepackaged lettuce and produce.
We have decided that we want no part in adding to the problem of plastic in our earth. When we go produce shopping, we carry along a wicker basket and use that to haul home our veggies. No need for plastic bags.
When we get home, we wash and drain all produce on a clean cotton towel. We then make our own salads, feeling that we did at least a small part in helping our landfill and our Earth.