Cherry tomatoes and strawberries in plastic containers. Cucumbers in shrink wrap. Shrink-wrapped meat on a plastic tray. Coleslaw in a plastic tub. But for a while now, the people of New Zealand have been confronted head-on with its recycling issue.
At its heart, the supermarket industry will tell you, the predominance of plastics is about convenience and food safety. Consumers, who are still struggling to remember to bring shopping bags, are not expected to try and provide their own containers for goods like meat, fish or salads.
Thom Adams used to do waste audits and he says there is a case for plastics. "The problem with soft plastic waste isn't necessarily that it exists in the first place, it's that there are very few systems to recapture it."
The fruit and vegetables industry is also frequently criticised for using plastic because a lot of produce can be bought loose. But it's hard for growers to move away from something that protects more fragile fruit, is cheaper than the alternatives, and significantly extends shelf life.
Mike Chapman, chief executive of Horticulture NZ, says they are open to more environmentally friendly packaging: "As an industry, it's part of our ethos." He believes the solution is ‘a double whammy’ of innovative packaging and better disposal for the packaging that exists. "But at the moment we haven't got the plant in New Zealand that can deal with the plastics."
As described on stuff.co.nz, disposal is a key issue. Up until Christmas, consumers had an outlet for soft plastics in the form of a nationwide recycling programme. However, the scheme is currently suspended after its main buyer in Australia had stopped receiving the plastic. It's set to resume in April, in a reduced number of regions.
