Page 4 - FreshDigest Spr.24

EDITOR’S VIEW By Tim Linden Plastic vs. Methane Gas In this black and white world of ours, there is a battle brewing over plastics in which the line between good and evil are blurred. There are black and white positions but the unintended consequences create a color pattern that is clearly gray. Reducing the use of plastic is a worth- while goal. While plastic has many great uses and has made life easier on many fronts, the process of creating and dispos- ing of it unquestionably has negative im- pacts on Mother Earth. There are serious issues pertaining to our atmosphere and our oceans and everywhere in between. Governments and industries all over the world are addressing the issue in various ways. Canada, the European Union and at least 11 U.S. states have placed some type of restrictions on single use plastics. Spain has enacted a plastic tax to reduce demand. And now Canada has taken direct aim at produce packaging with a proposal to reduce the use of plastic on food by 95 percent by 2028. That is creating quite the stir among U.S. producers. There are ongoing efforts, including many success stories, of new produce packaging that greatly reduces and even eliminates the use of plastic. Research on biodegradable packaging has been a trend for many years. Several packaging companies and produce organizations have been touting their successes quite publicly. Sambrailo Packaging in Salinas introduced its Ready- Cycle paper baskets in 2017 and have con- tinued to improve the product and gained customers in several product segments including berries and cherry tomatoes. Peri & Sons, an onion grower and shipper in Nevada, has recently introduced a totally compostable bag for its signature product. It appears that a lot of movement is occurring on this front and more needs to be done. But there are also hurdles. Many point to the increased cost of compostable packaging. That’s a hollow argument. The total cost to the environment is immeasur- able. One packaging expert recently told me that the cost of the material to create non-plastic baskets and film overwraps is more expensive than plastic but that’s largely because plastic has had a 70-year head start, with innovations and scaling greatly bringing the price down. If plastic clamshells were eliminated, industry would turn on a dime and scale up production on the alternatives with the price falling rapidly. A bigger hurdle is that equivalent compostable packaging has not been cre- ated yet for some very important produce segments. Decades of research has pro- duced breathable, plastic-based material for bagged salads, for example. Bagged salads are now the number one produce item at most supermarkets. The innova- tions encompassed in those bags allow for 10–14-days shelf life, and longer. I have been told there is no worthy compostable alternative. If plastic was eliminated from these salad bags, shelf life would be greatly reduced. At this point, the result would be far less utilization of the fresh products in those bags. That would mean more spoiled product in landfills and more methane in the environment, which is a major, major polluter. In fact, experts claim that meth- ane is responsible for about 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution of a century ago. While greenhouse gases, which are created in the production of plastics, have a long- term effect on the environment, methane emissions are more detrimental in the short-term with regard to the warming of our universe. Which is worse is a very difficult debate with no clear-cut answer. It seems that eliminating plastic from bagged salads is not a good solution at this time. Proponents of bulk produce sales argue that we should eliminate bagged salads and go back to 100% bulk commodity sales. But that’s not a logical solution either. That would lead to a decrease in salad consumption – not a good thing – and also an increase in waste as the home cook is not as efficient in utilizing a head of lettuce or a romaine heart as are the bagged salad processors. This is a problem that does call for increased research on plastic bag alternatives. I am sure this work is going on in many labs around the world. The solution will be a game changer for the industry and the planet. 4