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Unnecessary plastic packaging on grapes is causing an uproar on social media.
In a recent post on the r/Anticonsumption subreddit, a user uploaded a photo from a grocery store that shows a sample platter of plastic cups containing two grapes each, accompanied by a sign that says, “Try a sample. Please use tongs or a toothpick.”
“Take two grapes and then throw away some plastic, nice,” the user wrote in their caption.
It’s just one of countless examples of pointless plastic waste in supermarkets.
Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental hazards that our planet faces. Studies suggest that in 2016, there was about 267 million tons of plastic waste worldwide — equivalent to about 24 trillion 10-gram plastic bottles, according to the World Bank. The volume of liquid that these bottles could hold could fill up 2,400 Olympic stadiums, 4.8 million Olympic-size swimming pools, or 40 billion bathtubs, as the World Bank’s site pointed out.
The weight of this waste is roughly equivalent to about 3.4 million adult blue whales or 1,376 Empire State Buildings combined.
Plastic waste sticks around in our environment for hundreds of years, meaning it corrupts ecosystems far longer than other kinds of waste. It takes at least 450 years for plastic water bottles to break down in nature, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Plastic can have toxic effects on human health, as studies have shown that exposure to the substance can lead to respiratory issues, reproductive problems, and even cancer, according to the Geneva Environment Network. Clearly, the more plastic that clutters our planet, the worse off its inhabitants will be.
Users shared their disgust with the plastic grape samples in the comment section of the original post.
“Where the hell is this? Maybe they think this is being sanitary? Also, why does someone need to sample grapes? You never had a grape before? It’s not like these will have come from the bunch you’re considering buying. This is driving me mad. This should be illegal,” one user wrote.
“Seems like a futile attempt to keep gross people from eating produce. … I saw a lady chowing down on a plum the other day. So gross,” another user said.
“Well I wouldn’t want my grapes to touch other grapes, that would be disgusting,” a third user sarcastically commented.
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