Buy local? Cut the packaging first!

Wednesday 22 March 2017

One Islander who is trying to be 'waste-free' has hit a barrier in an unexpected place - local produce.

Sheena Brockie has been on her zero-waste mission since January, and she expected buying local to be a quick win to cut the rubbish. But she's become frustrated that rather than being 'loosely local' on supermarket shelves, Jersey produce still comes packaged in plastics, foils and polystyrene trays, despite only travelling a few metres from field to shelf.

She's been contacting supermarkets and local farmers to understand why local produce comes all wrapped up in hard to recycle packages.

Ms Brockie went waste-free earlier this year after too many years trying to recycle what is not recyclable. "On the mainland, a lot more things are recycled but I have always been frustrated by the large amount of rubbish that needed to be sent to the furnace because we can't recycle it in Jersey. It got me thinking about alternatives and about what other options are available."

But buying more local produce didn't cut the packaging waste as much as she expected: "There is a good selection of seasonal, locally produced fresh food on sale in supermarkets - but sadly in the majority of instances these are covered in plastic film or polystyrene, which is not recyclable locally. And even it it was, it is completely unnecessary."

As far as the supermarkets are concerned, the plastic packages do have their benefits. Mark Cox, Chief Operating Officer for the CI Co-op, explained: "First and foremost, they help protect the produce. They help with its durability and extend its shelf life and also makes for a quicker handling. However, we do understand our customers' concern and wherever it's possible we will look at every opportunity to get rid ion excess packaging. If we don't need it, we will get rid of it. We have been doing a lot of work on that aspect and taken trays out from chicken packagings and have also reduced the amount of glass used for our label wine."

"On the other hand, customers expect to pick up a bag of carrots instead of picking them out when they are loose. In the same aspect strawberries or raspberries need to be packaged because they are fragile. We need to be able to stock the product in such a way that it remains well protected," added Mr Cox.

But Sheena Brockie is convinced that it is not something that is convenient to either parties involved:

"All the processing, costs and clean-up efforts to manage this waste is crazy - the environmental impact is high and takes away from the wins achieved by buying locally. It's very inconvenient to pay more for a product as a result of these excess packaging costs,  to carry a heavier load home, to have to unpack the produce from all those wrappings to store correctly as plastic cause 'sweating' and the produce doesn't last as long and finally it's frustrating to be left with a mountain of packaging that I can do nothing with except send to the furnace. It also causes an extra cost to the farmers who have to pay for the packaging of their produce."

"I am trying to understand what goes us to that situation but it's clear that consumers are the key - we need to speak out! Ask at your supermarket - where is the local produce, where is the unpackaged local produce - and support those who do provide what you are looking for." 

As such, she has been going to the Central Market and turned to local farmers more often, although local produce seems to be hard to find on the market stalls. "It's not very clear what is local produce, you have to ask for it because you can't always tell. But they are brilliant regarding the zero-waste approach, it's very easy to bring your own bags and glass jars for them to put the produce in."