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Britain\u2019s largest supermarket Tesco is trialing a new way to cut down on plastics\u2014lasering barcodes and product information directly onto products.<\/p>\n
The trial applies only to avocados, which have risen in popularity in the U.K. over the last decade, with avocado on toast a particularly delicacy for millennials.\u00a0The company, ranked 34 in the latest Fortune 500 Europe list, sells close to 70 million of the oily fruits a year, up 15% in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
The company told the Daily Mail <\/em><\/a>that if it extended the trial, currently limited to around 270 stores in south-east England, nationwide then it could prevent a million plastic stickers being used. In the same trial, conducted with a sole supplier, Westfalia Fruit, it is also replacing the plastic tray for avocado multipacks with a cardboard alternative.<\/p>\n Sad though it is to admit, no one\u2019s going to save the world with lasers alone. The far bigger problem will surely be from plastic packaging waste and the emissions associated with transporting the fruits to stores, whether from domestic producers or from further afield.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the case that the idea only really applies to certain products\u2014avocados have dark, thick skin that allows a light laser etching to be done both safely and clearly. The same doesn\u2019t apply to, say, a peach.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean laser-tattooing fruit is only<\/em> a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n Ambitious sustainability goals are unlikely to be achieved by one or two grand, sweeping measures.<\/p>\n Instead, large numbers of smaller initiatives give ways for businesses like Tesco\u2014which like many others has a net zero emissions target for 2050\u2014to move incrementally but assuredly forwards.<\/p>\n The group for example has reduced its scope 1 and 2 emissions\u2014that is, not including end use of its products\u2014by 61% since 2015<\/a>, which will likely have been the result of lots of small changes.<\/p>\n Whether there is a plastic-label-free future for avocado-munching Brits depends on how the trial goes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bigger changes to watch out for concern alternatives to plastic packaging, from refill stations through to packaging derived from things like kelp<\/a> or cassava.\u00a0<\/p>\n The technology hasn\u2019t quite reached the level of competing with fossil-fuel derived plastic packaging yet, but technological progress is happening all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regulation can move the dial too, as the U.K.\u2019s successful ban on free plastic shopping bags showed<\/a> (Aldi is trying something similar in its U.S. stores<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n As ever, it\u2019s wise to be somewhat sceptical of what supermarkets, consumer-packaged-goods companies and others say about their efforts. But when you start noticing less plastic in your recycling or trash, and more things like laser-etched fruit, you\u2019ll know they\u2019re starting to pay off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy does this matter?<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n