We see them all around us: shiny vegetables individually wrapped in air-tight cellophane, single-serving meals in Styrofoam or plastic cups, and smaller bottles upon bottles of drinking water. Plastic packaging has taken over more than half of our grocery lists which was hard to keep up with our carbon footprint.
Plastic pollution is one of the top problems the world is facing today. Single-use plastics and Whole Foods are among some of the industry’s top users of plastics that even their motto of “Planet over Profits” seems more of a marketing strategy jingle instead of a promise.
Just recently, microplastics were discovered inside the bodies of four pregnant women. It was hypothesized that the microplastics were somehow ingested by the women and were being transported in the placenta to where the baby was. Scientists stated that this might create a “cyborg” baby which stands for a living, human being who is no longer 100% organic but is a combination of both organic and inorganic. The expected outcome for the pregnancies is still inconclusive but experts fear that the microplastics might affect the children in terms of growth and development.
We, as consumers, have a responsibility to be heard that we do not buy plastics. That we wish to spend our money and time on actual goods that do not rely on single-use plastics to stay fresh inside their air-conditioned stores. Wrapping biodegradable foods in cellophane does not make them any more desirable in the human palate. Instead, it makes them look like plastic displays with zero freshness altogether. We are better off buying farm-fresh produce than plastic-wrapped goods.