AVOIDING GROCERY PLASTICS
Easy steps YOU can take during your next grocery run!
Let’s give the food industry a signal with our grocery purchases!
The small choices we make every day can have a huge impact on how much plastic ends up in our landfills and oceans.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN 4 MINUTES?
Commit to change your personal shopping habits!
1. Use reusable bags
2. Avoid produce bags
3. Seek alternatives (e.g. spinach in plastic packaging vs. bundles)
4. Shop at zero waste stores
5. Avoid heavily packaged foods
6. Shop at farmer’s markets or good food boxes
See below for more tips & tricks
Got your own tips and tricks?
Share them on our social media and we will re-post!
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MORE INFO
CONCERN:
The food industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to single-use plastics! So many of our favourite products utilize unnecessary plastic packaging when there are other options and alternatives. (FoodPrint; CBC)
WHO IS AFFECTED?
Human health, ecosystems, the economy. With the amount of single use plastics making their way into aquatic systems, marine animals are at a significantly increased risk of ingesting or getting entangled in plastic refuse.
GOAL:
With our usage choices while shopping, we can collectively help to reduce demand for single use plastics such as grocery bags. This will contribute to the minimization of their production, distribution, and disposal.
SOLUTION:
The solution is up to you! If each person significantly reduces their use of single-use plastics at the grocery store, we can significantly change how much plastic garbage is generated. Bring your reusable bags, avoid certain products, and recycle what you can! Where possible, seek out farmer’s markets and zero-waste grocery stores.
RESOURCES:
Grocery stores are packed with plastic. Some are changing. (National Geographic)
Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling (EPA)
10 Steps for a ‘Zero Waste’ Shopping Routine (Treehugger)eat and the environment: Do Canadians know what’s at stake?
WHAT?
The food industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to single-use plastics and unnecessary plastic packaging!
GOAL
With our usage choices while shopping, we can collectively help to reduce demand for single use plastics
WHO?
Human health, ecosystems, the economy
Marine animals are at a significantly increased risk of ingesting or getting entangled in plastic refuse
SOLUTION
The solution is up to you!
Bring your reusable bags, avoid certain products, and recycle what you can! Where possible, seek out farmer’s markets and zero-waste grocery stores.
“Containers and packaging make up a major portion of municipal solid waste, amounting to 82.2 million tons of generation in 2018 (28.1 % of total generation)”
MORE TIPS & TRICKS
During your weekly grocery run, make a conscious effort to minimize your use of single-use plastics. Some ideas:
AVOID PRODUCE BAGS!
The rolls of thin plastic bags around the produce aisles are not your friend. Simply place your lettuce, kale, tomatoes, oranges, etc. right into the cart and wash well when you get home. You can also stay on the look-out for a set of reusable lightweight cloth/net produce bags to bring with you while you shop. They make great gifts too!
BRING YOUR OWN GROCERY BAGS
By now, most households have a healthy stash of canvas, cloth, or woven plastic reusable bags that will last you for years. Set a goal to always bring these with you to the store. Leave some in your vehicle or keep them near your front door!
LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVES
- Baby spinach in a plastic clamshell package is delicious and convenient, but you can also purchase a bundle of large leaf spinach without the clamshell pack. Look for it next to the fresh herbs!
- Berries come in plastic clamshell packages too… when buying in season, try to seek out a farmer’s market where vendors offer different types of packaging such as cardboard, or that will place fruit directly into your own container or reusable bag.
FIND ZERO WASTE SHOPS
Research local stores that encourage users to bring their own reusable jars! Use a scale to weigh your container (tare it) and fill it up with dried goods such as rice, oats, pasta, flour, and nuts. The weight of your containers will be subtracted during checkout.
DECREASE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF MEAT AND DAIRY
Meat and dairy products are nearly exclusively sold in plastic, styrofoam, and poly coat packaging. That is not to say that plant-based products aren’t also challenging- almond milk and tofu also come in plastic and poly coat! It is almost impossible to avoid plastic completely. We all must do our best to make healthy food choices while also minimizing waste.
GOT YOUR OWN TIPS & TRICKS?
Respond to our social media posts with the ways you reduce your plastic waste at the grocery store, and we’ll share them.
One thing I do is use the brown paper mushroom bags for all my produce.
The brown paper mushroom bags are available at Farm Boy. Metro/Food Basics used to have them, but I think they switched. Maybe we should ask them to return them. Also I don’t know if it is a corporate decision not to have them or an individual store. Do you know?
True. We need to get them to bring them back.