It’s official: the world has gone quite mad. OK, one’s definition of madness is subjective, but what else do you call the idea to market bananas individually wrapped in their own plastic bags?
Yes, it’s true: the fruit that already comes with its own biodegradable wrapper is now being encased in something that will end up in the landfill, along with the billions of kilos of plastic that end up there every year around the world.
Del Monte, the company responsible for this initiative, said the bags are supposed to contain some kind of technology that will control ripening. Right, because just putting them on the kitchen counter to ripen naturally is just too time-consuming.
So far, the packaged fruit is just being marketed in the U.S. and the U.K. But aren’t all of us trying to be a little more green? In fact, it seems to me that the more educated we are on reusing, recycling and reducing, the more manufacturers seem to come up with increasingly idiotic ideas.
Disposable toilet brushes, disposable kids’ sippy cups, disposable wipes, disposable floor mops.
We know all this stuff is harmful to the environment, from the chemicals used in the manufacture of the items to the ease of disposal. So why is it that every time I visit the grocery store, I see more and more of this stuff?
Without a doubt there are companies making green products that can be thrown into the compost pile, from floor cleaning cloths to cutlery.
What happened to using an actual mop for the floor, or a vacuum to suck up the dog hair?
As we get smarter about ensuring the health of our planet for future generations, it seems we are more than happy to also throw anything away that no longer works.
Maybe it’s part of the society in which we now find ourselves living. There’s a throwaway aspect to everything. Don’t like your friends: hit the delete button to remove them from your Facebook list.
Cheap clothes that don’t last can be replaced, and I like a bargain as much as the next gal, but at what cost? Those cheap clothes are usually made in factories with little concern for their environmental impact, not to mention the lousy working conditions in which they’re made, all so we don’t have to pay more than $10 for a T-shirt.
Addicted to Plastic! The Rise and Demise of a Modern Miracle is a film that details the effects of the material on the food chain: the birds and fish that ingest the stuff. And it makes the point that even those of us who recycle, and who bring our own bags to the grocery store, are barely making a dent because the stuff keeps on coming: cell phones, electric toothbrushes, disposable contacts.
And it’s hard not to get sucked in: I wear disposable contacts because I figure they’re better for my eyes. When my daughter was in diapers, I chose the lazy disposable route because the idea of washing endless diapers wasn’t that appealing. Convenience does win out, but at what cost?
In the classic 1967 film The Graduate, Ben Braddock, just graduated from college, is offered a piece of advice by a family friend on where the future is going: “I want to say one word to you. Just one word...Plastics.”
And 40 years ago, just as smoking was socially acceptable, nobody wore seatbelts and the words global warming hadn’t been invented, plastics were indeed the industry of the future, promising Jetson-like convenience.
It’s not going to disappear anytime soon, but meanwhile, I think I’ll continue to buy my bananas without their plastic coats.
Katherine Mortimer is The Morning Star's lifestyles editor.
