The beginning of the end for plastic packaging?

FOR a growing cohort of the population, the threat posed by plastics to the environment is an issue that’s close to their heart, and retailers are starting to respond.

Marks & Spencer in London is currently running a trial in which it has eliminated plastic packaging for 90 lines of loose fruit and vegetables at one of its stores.

In addition, the chain is experimenting with removing sell-by dates from products, choosing instead to use greengrocers to help customers pick and weigh items and to give advice on how to preserve fresh produce.

Closer to home, Beechlawn Organic Farm in Ballinasloe, Galway, recently made the headlines when it won a Bord Bia New & Innovative Product Award for its organic kale, sold in a compostable bio-bag.

“It took a lot of research to get this off the ground because initially we hit many closed doors,” says Una Ní Bhroin, who runs the farm with her husband Padraig Fahy.

Eventually we were introduced to Biobag, an international company with a small Irish presence.

“It was able to provide us with a certified biodegradable and compostable bag which is waterproof, leak-proof, odourless — and crucially, which the consumer can see into.

“We had to get a special bio-bag imported because the only bags they had were green in colour and consumers want to see what they’re buying on the shelves.”

Beechlawn Farm supplies over 60 shops, supermarkets and restaurants with its prepacked and loose organic vegetables.