How to buy fruit and vegetables without using plastic

Use a good old cardboard box

If you get parcels in the post that come in sturdy cardboard boxes, hang on to them and reuse as many times as you can. You could even keep a range of sizes (stored inside one another) in the boot of your car.

Invest in a shopping basket

Take items out to weigh and then pop them back in your basket again, plastic bag free. You could opt for a traditional wicker basket or a fabric basket that folds flat – there are lots of options. You could even go one step further and get yourself a shopping trolley (just a large bag on wheels!) – especially if you aren’t keen on carrying a basket of fruit and veggies around the shop.

Grab some reusable produce bags‍

They are light and last for ages.  

Laundry wash bags

Other options are the washing bags for socks and undies (so they don’t magically disappear in the wash) – they are also light and great for lots of fresh produce. These are available in stores such as Kmart and Target for a few dollars.  

Reuse

Keep the plastic bags from other items such as bread. Reuse them as many times as you can and then put them in the REDcycle container at your local supermarket.

Leave them loose

If you are buying largish items, skip the bags completely. This doesn’t really work for grapes or cherry tomatoes as they will fall through the holes in your trolley! But items such as onions, apples, cauliflower, and broccoli don’t really need to be bagged.  

In fact, lots of fruit and veggies have their own ‘wrapping’: e.g., bananas, oranges, avocadoes, lettuce (the outer leaves which we usually discard) and cauliflower (the tough stems that we cut away).  

You should always wash your produce before eating anyway, so there's no need to worry about potential germs on the trolley or carry basket.

And in an emergency – if you’ve forgotten to BYO produce bags – grab a mushroom paper bag from the fresh produce section. Just remember to let the checkout person know what is inside – or you could be charged the mushroom price per kilo!

And remember – biodegradable and compostable produce bags aren’t necessarily any better.  

Source:

https://plasticsbanwa.com.au/

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