Corn is a staple crop in much of the U.S., so consumers are used to seeing it on the cob and in its natural husk at the grocery store. One immigrant to the UK was puzzled to find things being done a little differently at their local grocery store and posted about it on r/Anticonsumption.
What's happening?
They shared their post with a flair, labeling it "plastic waste." "I moved to the U.K. three years ago and I'm still baffled by this practice," they said. "Waste of plastic, electricity, and transport emissions."
The practice in question involved selling trimmed ears of corn with the husks already removed, packaged individually in plastic. They shared a photo with their post, showing over a dozen ears arranged for sale at a local Lidl, according to a comment.
Why is this type of corn product a problem?
As the original poster pointed out, this approach to selling corn is wasteful. It takes time, labor, and energy to shuck the corn, trim it, and package it, and taking it from the field to a factory to the store means extra transportation costs — expenses that are passed on to consumers.
Meanwhile, the pollution from the process and plastic packaging are bad for the environment. At the end, instead of a biodegradable corn husk that can go in the compost and enrich a garden, buyers are left with a plastic mess they have to dispose of, which will shed microplastics into the environment.
All that for a vegetable that, as one commenter pointed out, comes with its own natural protective wrapper. "Someone remind them corn comes prepackaged straight picked from the plant," they said.
Is Lidl doing anything about this?
According to the Lidl website, "Wherever possible, we remove plastic and packaging altogether. Where packaging is needed, we ensure it isn't unnecessary or excessive." It set a goal to ensure all of its own branded packaging was "recyclable, reusable, refillable or renewable" by 2025. It's unclear if it has reached this goal or if the plastic-covered corn was Lidl's in-house brand.
What can I do about plastic waste?
You can avoid unnecessary plastic — and also save money — by growing your own food at home. If that's not an option, you can look for vegetables with no or minimal plastic packaging, or with eco-friendly alternatives like paper. If you find plastic is unavoidable, research the recycling standards in your area to make sure you're disposing of your plastic the right way.
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