Unwrapped reality
Sarah Catherall tries a week of going plastic free with her family, and finds she had to cut corners.
Seven days of trying to live plastic free - and keep my family fed - I conclude it’s almost impossible in our plastic-infested world. I set my partner and daughters, aged 17, 14 and 11, a challenge: a week of shopping plastic free?
On my first attempt at a plastic free day, sustainability champion Laurie Foon meets me at an inner-city supermarket armed with containers, reusable zip-lock bags and eco-friendly Boomerang shopping bags. Being plastic free means being prepared - no more dashing out last minute and piling groceries into plastic bags.
Each week, Foon and her four-person household generate just a single shopping bag worth of rubbish. In my house, we generate a rubbish bag or two, plus we recycle.
We put potatoes and veges in reusable vegetable bags. I usually buy prepacked coffee beans, but we pour beans from a bulk bin into the reusable bag Foon brings along; when I’m rushing, it’s tempting to pick up prepackaged almonds, but today we head for the bulk bins, and spoon nuts into a reusable zip-lock bags.
In this mainstream supermarket, the realities of our plastic-infested world stare us in the face - it’s no wonder 8900 tonnes of plastic were sent to the Wellington landfill last year.
Many of the items I’d normally put in my pantry are banned this week - Our favourite chutney is in a plastic container, along with honey; the kids’ favourite chips are packaged in plastic ; it’s virtually impossible to find yoghurt not served in nasty plastic. Cereals are either packaged in plastic bags, or hidden in plastic bags in a cardboard box. Most convenience foods are packaged in plastic.
We bypass packaged bags of spinach and mesculin. I want to buy half a pumpkin but they are wrapped in plastic.
Shopping this way takes time that many of us don’t have. I buy peanut butter in a glass jar, choose olives in a tin, and avoid commercial breads for a bakery-made loaf I pop into a paper bag.
Foon has brought along an icecream container to put meat into. Supermarket manager Brent Doile tells us he would love to allow BYO containers at the deli but it’s banned because of food contamination risks.
Foon’s advice? Go to your local butcher and persuade him or her.
After an hour or so at the supermarket, we get to the checkout minus many staples - and we do have milk in a plastic bottle. Missing from my shop? Crackers, convenience snack foods, yoghurt, cheese and meat.
Day two, I text my 14-year-old at school: ‘‘Don’t forget we’re plastic free.’’ Her reply: ‘‘But I’m starving! There’s nothing in the house to eat.’’
At 5pm, my 11-year-old is munching salted nuts when I realise with horror that she is pulling them out of a plastic bag. Thankfully her accompanying smoothie is served in a ‘‘guilt free’’ fully recyclable container. I realise I drank my 3pm latte in a takeaway cup - a biodegradable cup with a plastic lid rather than sitting down in the cafe or drinking it in a keep cup.
On day three, I do well. I buy my morning coffee in a cup and sit down and drink it. I put my lunchtime sushi on a handful of napkins rather than in a plastic container.
Evening of day four, and I’m too late for our local butcher, but the kids and man need meat, so I shamefully buy beef stirfry wrapped in plastic from Countdown. Apparently, all Countdown and Foodstuffs meat is now packaged on recyclable trays, so that’s a plus.
At the bakery, I eye up chocolate croissants for the lunchboxes. But, alas, there isn’t a paper bag in sight. I call a store person over. ‘‘Sorry, we only have plastic bags,’’ he says.
I want spinach with dinner, but every single spinach leaf is packaged in plastic or wrapped in it. When I ask Countdown about this by email, I’m told I could have bought unpackaged alternatives cabbage, spring onions so on - blaming the lack of loose spinach on availability.
By day five, our fruit bowl is sadly empty. I’m staggered that most of the good-looking apples are dressed up in plastic boxes, and organic gold kiwifruit is sold in plastic containers. Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman says there are ‘‘good reasons’’ why some fruit and vegetables are packaged in retail stores. ‘‘This could be to protect the food so it lasts longer, to maintain its freshness, or if it is organic, to preserve its status and integrity. Keeping the food fresher for longer reduces food waste.’’
In desperation, I meet Marion Wood at her Commonsense Organics store, where her fruit and vege section is virtually free of plastic.
Paper is everywhere. I can fill up my household detergent bottles from bulk containers. Commonsense Organics gets a black mark for its meat, though, which is plastic wrapped.The downside? A 100 per cent organic shop is more pricey for budget shoppers.
On day six, I buy a tin of plums and a handful of kiwifruit which I pop into my handbag, rejecting the plastic bag the attendant offers me.
On day seven, my family is desperate for snacks. My partner buys a new deodorant. ‘‘That’s plastic!’’ I declare. ‘‘Remember, it’s banned.’’
I’ve reached the end of my plastic free week, but I’ll continue to avoid it when possible. My consensus? It’s impossible to shop at a mainstream supermarket and fill your fridge and pantry. Shopping this way also takes more time - you have to be highly organised and shop around.
More needs to be done to stop plastic in the first place. Food stores, food manufacturers, and the fruit and vege industry should offer customers plasticfree alternatives because we can’t do it alone.