Fruit and veg do best in nature’s packaging

sir – My father used to quote the Fyffes banana slogan: “Nature’s own nutritious fruit in nature’s own hygienic package”.

Why, then, do supermarkets sell bananas in plastic bags? The same applies, of course, to almost all fruit and vegetables, which are better kept out of plastic. Indeed, if you do not remove them from the bag as soon as you get them home, they sweat and rot.

Some supermarkets provide paper bags for mushrooms – so why not for all fruit and veg? Or can modern shoppers simply not be bothered to pick out their own apples and put them into a paper bag?

Jenny Reynolds

Okehampton, Devon

sir – Patrick Fossett (Letters, April 9) is right. Plastics are not the problem: they have many uses. The problem is how to dispose of them.

The answer is simple: incinerate them, and neutralise the vapours. This is surely better than creating lots of alternatives to plastic, which would also require safe disposal. Brian Christley

Abergele, Conwy

Pick of the bunch: bananas are taken to market in Chittagong, Bangladesh