A new campaign in New Zealand promotes ditching plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables in supermarkets.
Foodstuffs have signed the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration, which is going to make all stores and private label packaging 100 percent reusable, compostable, and recyclable by the year 2025.
Since the declaration was signed, sales of certain vegetables have soared by up to 300 percent.
Supermarkets in New Zealand are now putting a stop in using plastic packaging for fresh fruits and fresh vegetables.
Some supermarkets are calling the new plan as the “Food in the Nude”.
Nigel Bond, an owner of a store that sells fresh vegetables and fruits, said, “When you take on these projects they can be a disaster and lead to customer pushback but in my 30 years in the supermarket industry this simple change has resulted in the most positive feedback from customers I have ever received.”
The new initiative is part of New Zealand’s war against plastic materials.
Most supermarkets in New Zealand are no longer providing plastic bags at checkouts.
Last year, the government agreed to regulations for a mandatory phase-out across all retailers from July 1 this year.
Nigel Bond and Gary May, a store manager, came up with the idea 2 years ago.
Talking about the idea, Nigel said, “At the time we noticed an increasing amount of fresh produce was being supplied in plastic wrapping. We thought this was crazy and vowed and declared to do something about it.”
The NZ Plastic Packaging Declaration has also introduced recyclable food trays, which will help customers to divert more than 80 million trays from the landfill annually.