STOP THE PLASTIC PACKAGING OF ORGANIC PRODUCE

4 organic bananas
time to consume: 1 week
material: wrapping = transparent stretch film (material undisclosed)
tray = PS (polystyrene)
labels = adhesive paper
time to biodegrade: paper = 1-3 months   plastics = hundreds of years
(source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradation)
distributor : Market Basket, Demoulas Super Markets, Inc., USA
origin of produce : Columbia
manufacturer of packaging : Cryovac, Sealed Air corp., USA

 Organic produce is packaged IN MANY TIMES MORE PLASTIC than conventional produce.

To use the words of the Plastic Pollution Coalition:
"- Plastic never goes away
 - Plastic spoils our groundwater
 - Plastic attracts other pollutants
 - Plastic piles up in the environment
 - Plastic poisons our food chain
 - Plastic affects human health
 - Plastic threatens wild life
 - Plastic costs billions to abate"

YET, the consumers probably MOST AWARE of this dire situation, i.e. the consumers making the effort and paying a premium to have a less polluting, more organic/natural lifestyle, are the ones having to consume the MOST PLASTIC when purchasing their food.

The labelling, transportation, traceability and shelf constraints imposed on organic produce especially, result in fruits and vegetables needing to carry labels and protection against the elements and fraud. This function is important, as it allows to build trust between organic producers, distributors and consumers.

However, most of the current materials used in organic packaging (styrofoam, polyethylene, aluminum, etc. - gallery here) are environmentally destructive. Beyond a certain scale, organic producers use packaging machines which have been designed to use specific types of plastic elastic bands / labels / meshes, etc, and have little leverage to change the status quo.

So, how can we act?

In the USA, the production and handling of organic produce is regulated by the USDA's National Organic Program.
This program follows the directions defined by the NOSB (National Organic Standards Board). This is supposedly a grassroots committee which records public comments & concerns.  They meet twice a year, and 30 days before each meeting they welcome people's written or oral comments.

The interesting thing about this system is that:
1) The meetings' agendas are defined independently from the public's comments and concerns. There is no reading of public comments during the meetings either. From what I understand, the comments are handed out at the end for who wishes to read them
2) It's almost impossible to find the page where to submit comments; the average number of comments the NOSB receives for each meeting is 1100 (of about 90,000,000 households who "purchase organic food at least sometimes")
3) However, if an issue is brought up enough times in the comments, they might consider putting it on the next agenda 


After lengthy phone calls with members of the USDA (who were by the way extremely lovely and patient), here is the info that will allow you to act right now, if you, like me, are concerned by this issue.
- The next meeting of the NOSB is at the end of October 2015
- The comments section for that meeting just opened a few days ago. You have until MONDAY OCTOBER 5th, 2015 to make your voice heard, either in writing or by voice recording.
- GO HERE and click on the COMMENT NOW! blue button at the top right of the page, to demand:

THE PHASING OUT OF PLASTIC PACKAGING FOR ORGANIC PRODUCE

THE OBLIGATION FOR THE ORGANIC INDUSTRY TO INVEST IN TRULY COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS AND HARMLESS TECHNOLOGIES

THE GOVERNMENTAL AND/OR PRIVATE SUPPORT OF MAJOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN PACKAGING.

- Not "recyclable plastic" (only 8% of plastic gets recycled anyway)
- Not "recycled plastic" (it's still plastic)
- Not "biodegradable plastic" (they are controversial as to their carbon footprint and end result)

DEMAND A FOCUS ON NATURAL FIBERS, NATURAL WAXES, AND MECHANICAL TECHNIQUES, AND ANY OTHER SOLUTION USING EASILY RENEWABLE AND NON POLLUTING ELEMENTS.

Thank you for being here.
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