• Food Food

Irate shopper calls out grocery story over 'absurd' produce aisle find: 'Why is this legal?'

"This kind of crap is how we're suffocating the earth in plastic waste."

grocery store produce aisle

Photo Credit: iStock

There's nothing like fresh fruit — especially a delicious, refreshing slice of pineapple. That said, you may not love the effort required to core and slice the entire thing. But with the excessive packaging (and price tag) that comes with pre-sliced pineapple, slicing it yourself may become much more appealing.

This issue was summed up by one Redditor, who shared a post titled: "This kind of crap is how we're suffocating the earth in plastic waste." 

Photo Credit: Reddit

The post shows a photo featuring just two ounces of pineapple (about two slices) encased in what looks like a thick, durable plastic container. It may be more expected to find a 32-ounce package of sliced pineapple in plastic, but this Redditor was clearly disappointed to see such a small amount in its own container.

Plastic comes with more than its fair share of baggage. First off, its existence can literally change natural processes and habitats that then weaken how well various ecosystems adapt to our planet's changing temperatures. And this ends up adversely affecting millions of livelihoods, well-being, and food production.

On top of that, close to nine million tons of the material winds up in our oceans each and every year. Marine life certainly doesn't need or deserve that.

If all of that weren't enough, the sheer amount of waste eventually getting dumped or sent to landfills is astronomical — to the tune of nearly 7.75 billion tons or 76% of the plastic produced between 1950 and 2017. Plus, what's alarming about the U.S.'s share of this is it's the world's largest with over 40 million tons of plastic created annually. 

Fellow Redditors seem to agree with this idea and the poster's sentiment, one even wondering, "Why is this legal?"

Another shares, "Manufacture[r]s and retailers really need to [be] financially responsible for the waste they produce or else they will keep distributing that price across the planet at their own profit." 

The price they're referring to is the exorbitantly high one a user describes as, "Some absurd airport price," while another says, "This is a literal slice that probably costs $4."

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.

Cool Divider