Aldi is doing away with plastic

I don’t see that we need either, quizqueen, for a lot of things. In our local fruit shop you can just load what you want into your wire basket and take it to the till, where they’ll weigh it and tip it into your own bag. It works for most fruit and veg (not berries obviously!).

They do display some fruit in plastic punnets, pre-weighed and priced, but always ask if they can tip it into your bag so they can re-use the punnet.

I worked at Tesco for twenty years and we had a customer who would in-wrap everything in boxes...plastic....any sort of pointless wrapping ( I.e. Wrapped bananas!!!!) .... he was annoying ,BUT RIGHT. Way too much packaging!!

....sorry..‘unwrap’

It takes a lot of energy to make a paper bag. The paper industry is a huge energy consumer and polluter. Sainsbury's reusable veggie bags are made from recycled plastic bottles so that hasn't removed plastic from the equation. But, we have to start somewhere, as BlueBelle points out.

We used to buy our veg loose from the greengrocer and had to take our own bags to carry it home. I still do that, even in the supermarket, it it's offered loose, but the smaller, local stores don't have room for large displays of loose produce. Unfortunately, I rarely remember to remove packaging and leave it behind in the shop. You can do that, if you think on.

In Northumberland, the household recycling collection is restricted to plastic bottles, cans, paper and card. Plastic wrapping, plastic trays from meat and veg, yogurt pots and food waste etc. have to go in the general waste (unless you compost veg peelings, as I do). There are local hubs for glass bottles and textiles. Our village tetrapack container has recently been removed. Anything else must be taken (in my case) ten miles to the nearest recycling centre. My daughter and her husband are scandalised by Northumberland's poor performance compared with Bristol, where they accept almost everything for recycling.

What happens to it then, mind you, is another story, another scandal when you read about our waste being shipped across the world, where they dump it in landfill, in the sea, or pollute the air by burning it. However, sometimes they send it straight back because they find hazardous waste concealed in other, recyclable stuff. I've considered deleting this since it's quite depressing....?

I have been buying some reusable drawstring bags for fruit at Aldi recently they are good for storage at home they cost 25p I think .

It's not just the fact that fruit and veg are packed in plastic but when goods are packed in this way we cannot just buy the amount of produce that we actually require. It's not the first time that I have thrown away veg which was left languishing in the fridge too long.

I certainly haven’t suggested using paper quizqueen as I m well onboard about the trees there are many alternatives, fruit and veg don’t need packaging they can go straight in your bag Other things that use paper or plastic bags, you bring your own reusable ‘Fine mesh’ type bag that you can buy from lots of places I ve got a pack of 6 not expensive and totally washable we must all get in the habit If doing this
The other places need to think more as well as supermarkets are factories that pack items like toys which often have layers of plastic inside the box
Nobody’s expecting you to get excited oopsminty It is only a start but surely worth some small recognition instead of a negative put down

I have to have on line deliveries from Sainsburys. They recently announced that they would stop using plastic bags. But last week a head of broccoli was in a large orange plastic bag, a cucumber in another etc. In all there were five bags.
The meat and fish now come shrink wrapped in a plastic tray.
Takes me ages to get them out with scissors and knives.

Being housebound I have no alternative.

So what are they using instead of plastic?

Nothing aeogirl, just like in a market or in the old days You buy the Cauliflower the Potatoes the apples free and open
Nothing is needed

Well done Aldi. Unfortunately their nearest shop to me is 57 miles away! Or I'd definitely be there, let's hope that the other big chains follow them! I absolutely deplore the unnecessary use & waste of plastic, so much of it totally ridiculous.

grandtanteJE65

Well, at least it is a start.

As yet Lidl and the Co-op are the only supermarkets that sell some vegetables and fruit in loose weight and baked items in paper bags.

I work on the checkouts in Waitrose and we sell a huge amount of fruit and veg loose and either by weight or per item, though far too much is also sold pre-packed. Goods from the in-store bakery are in paper bags.

I read about Waitrose trialling a “green” store in the UK years ago, where all the greengrocery was to be sold loose and things like washing powder, cleaning fluids etc supplied from kegs so you could fill your own containers. I think Morrisons tried something similar.

Our local Tesco has some loose fruit and veg. Or it did last time I was in, about nine months ago.

All the stores are at least trying. Let’s hope they’re learning from each other as well.

Oh, just last year. How time flies. I wonder if it’s still going on.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/04/waitrose-launches-packaging-free-trial