Annoying irritations in the ordinary

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Fruit stickers. I thought they'd outlawed those stupid things? Why are we still pulling them off our plums and apples? What is the point of them? We don't need to know what orchard they came out of, that's nothing to do with us. Forget the damned things and drop the price of the fruit...

And we'll buy more.

[gr8dadof2]

Most of them have a number on them which is loaded into the pricing computer of the store and that tells them what it is and what to charge when the number is entered at the till, and for stock taking purposes

[Magoo]

Most of them have a number on them which is loaded into the pricing computer of the store and that tells them what it is and what to charge when the number is entered at the till, and for stock taking purposes

those stickers arent put on there by the supermarket.

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i reckon they should make the stickers flavoured the same as the fruit theyre on

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I peel them off, and watch the glue film stay on the skin. I really object to eating that just because the store or the wholesaler needs to identify each single fruit.

Dumb idea.

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Looks like we have to wait a few more years.

Even dumber idea.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming...uly%202025.

[Magoo]

thats not a glue film.
remember stamps before peel off?

[Lilith7]

I think though, we have to give our species credit; we're extremely good at doing stupid things. Really stupid things sometimes.

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Not sure how I wandered off to here, might have been one of those articles listed - clinically dead for two minutes. There is a connection though, because imo cricket is a very stupid thing..the most boring game known to man!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellb...what-i-saw

[SueDonim]

Fruit stickers. I thought they'd outlawed those stupid things? Why are we still pulling them off our plums and apples? What is the point of them? We don't need to know what orchard they came out of, that's nothing to do with us. Forget the damned things and drop the price of the fruit...

And we'll buy more.

Legally the fruit has to be able to be traced back to the producer (eg if there's a contamination issue requiring a recall). Also, the supermarket checkouts need to know which fruit we have in the bag. Even with the stickers I have at times had to correct them: "those apples are actually xxx, not what you have just rung them up as". So annoying as they are, the stickers do have a purpose. We just need to be reassured that they are not harmful if eaten, and that they will compost as that's where they end up. Progress is slow, but is coming.

Just like the supposed "home compostable" plastic bags. I've just spent this morning working on our compost and finding the remains of plastic that was supposed to break down and doesn't. The rest of the compost in that bin is well-matured. Just not the "compostable" plastic. We lost the convenience of the old reusable supermarket bags and now have to put up with something that is neither reusable nor compostable. And some of the plastic bits are the little bags that come inside the cardboard packs of herbs. If I can buy Greggs I do becuase it is only paper packaging, but my main supermarket no longer stocks them. Just the silly ones that have plastic inside the cardboard. Hopefully they will eventually get it right.

[Lilith7]

Perhaps we should be making paper from hemp; it can be recycled & is compostable.


https://elysianholding.com/f/what-is-hemp-paper

[Zurdo]

And the herbal teabags made of plastic - not very hippy friendly. Better off with Choysa.

[gr8dadof2]

Most of them have a number on them which is loaded into the pricing computer of the store and that tells them what it is and what to charge when the number is entered at the till, and for stock taking purposes

those stickers arent put on there by the supermarket.

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i reckon they should make the stickers flavoured the same as the fruit theyre on

as far as I know they are not. But I have observed the checkout gal look at the sticker, (and the stickers on 2 different fruits here have 4 digit numbers on each) they type in the 4 digit number into the till and the till knows what is being weighed and how much to charge. Yes they do get it wrong sometimes but they get it right more than they get wrong luckily.

[Magoo]

sorry, i was only going off the link up there that hunni has provided for us.
looks like that lady is in a packhouse.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Flaming hell. A plum is a plum is a plum. Price them the same, weigh them, bag them, eat them.

We doan need no nasty little sticky bits.

Soooooooo, what is that bit of plasticky film left behind then? And how come my avos don't get those slapped on their cheeks?

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Fruit stickers. I thought they'd outlawed those stupid things? Why are we still pulling them off our plums and apples? What is the point of them? We don't need to know what orchard they came out of, that's nothing to do with us. Forget the damned things and drop the price of the fruit...

And we'll buy more.

Legally the fruit has to be able to be traced back to the producer (eg if there's a contamination issue requiring a recall). Also, the supermarket checkouts need to know which fruit we have in the bag. Even with the stickers I have at times had to correct them: "those apples are actually xxx, not what you have just rung them up as". So annoying as they are, the stickers do have a purpose. We just need to be reassured that they are not harmful if eaten, and that they will compost as that's where they end up. Progress is slow, but is coming.

Just like the supposed "home compostable" plastic bags. I've just spent this morning working on our compost and finding the remains of plastic that was supposed to break down and doesn't. The rest of the compost in that bin is well-matured. Just not the "compostable" plastic. We lost the convenience of the old reusable supermarket bags and now have to put up with something that is neither reusable nor compostable. And some of the plastic bits are the little bags that come inside the cardboard packs of herbs. If I can buy Greggs I do becuase it is only paper packaging, but my main supermarket no longer stocks them. Just the silly ones that have plastic inside the cardboard. Hopefully they will eventually get it right.

Funny how we managed to survive eating apples without stickers back in the day...

As for that compostable thing, they are compostable. In an industrial composting process that reaches temperatures far higher than most home gardens can ever achieve. But the lying baskets never tell us that do they?
All these explanations are not excuses. We need to reduce unnecessary plastic use now. Not in 2025. Now.

[SueDonim]

[quote pid='15852' dateline='1643430288']

As for that compostable thing, they are compostable. In an industrial composting process that reaches temperatures far higher than most home gardens can ever achieve. But the lying baskets never tell us that do they?
All these explanations are not excuses. We need to reduce unnecessary plastic use now. Not in 2025. Now.
[/quote]

Yes, industrial composting is hotter, but when it says it's home compostable, it should break down in my bin. If it did, the next question would be what it broke down into, but it hasn't got that far. It's just a sticky mess.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Exactly. Microplastics are still plastics.

We can use the stuff better and for putting stickers on fruit.

[Oldfellah]

What gets me is the plastic piece that closes up the bread bag, yes I know it has the date and use by etc on it but its still a pain.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

There is a wheelchair charity that collects those. I have a jar on the windowsill for them. Soon as it is full I send them off...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/3943...ew-zealand

[Zurdo]

Those are going cardboard now.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Few and far between though, and the cardboard ones might appear greener, but cannot be recycled, and board is almost as eco heavy to produce.

Saving the planet is going to take more thought.

[Magoo]

the sooner we use up the plastic and glass the better, so i generate as much as i can.
when the glass and plastic are gone we will be forced to find another way.
perhaps one day glass and plastic become so scarce we can start mining our landfills.
opportunity abounds, use that shit up. buy it, chuck it, for the planets sake
think of the children.

[Zurdo]

Probably 50% of my tags are cardboard. I don't do compost, I have worm farms, or I burn it, which goes in the garden too. Never seen a cardboard tag come out of the worm farm intact.