Plastic packaging is everywhere in grocery stores, including for products that already have natural packaging. One shopper was describing how their local Walmart decided to package their loose garlic heads, which is nothing short of infuriating.
A photo of garlic was posted to the r/EgregiousPackaging forum. As the title states, each head is weighed and wrapped in a plastic packaging layer. The original poster wrote, “Walmart garlic…they still sell it by weight.”
Plastic packaging may make it slightly easier for cashiers to weigh produce, but it has a negative impact on plastic pollution. When consumers buy garlic, they have to go through the unnecessary process of unwrapping it and throwing the plastic sheet in the trash.
Garlic isn’t the only produce often wrapped in plastic at stores. Another Reddit user shared a photo of a stalk of asparagus wrapped in a thick plastic bag for sale. One shopper posted a photo of several stalks of celery (not good enough to eat with buffalo wings) wrapped in plastic and placed on top of a Styrofoam container.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Walmart has been criticized for its egregious use of plastic packaging. One Redditor recently slammed the company for replacing cardboard boxes of pasta with plastic bags.
Less than 5% of all single-use plastics are recycled. That means the remaining 95% goes to landfills or disposal sites, where it pollutes the environment and leaches chemicals into soil and water. As plastic moves through the soil or is thrown away, it breaks down into smaller pieces, making the microplastic problem even more prevalent.
People concerned about plastic in produce should buy plastic-free alternatives and avoid the ready-made aisles in the produce section. Customers can also write to store managers explaining why plastic packaging is so infuriating and, frankly, unnecessary.
Other users pointed out that superstore wrapping heads in plastic is not a new phenomenon. “I first saw this on a recent trip to Arizona,” said one user.
Another user said: “I’ve seen lots of fruits and vegetables in this.”
A third user wrote: [waste] of plastic. Garlic doesn’t need that. ”
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