A Redditor recently sparked outrage when they posted an image of what appears to be an endless array of dates, every single one of which is individually wrapped in plastic.
The image was posted in the Reddit community page r/Anticonsumption, which has more than 720,000 members and includes the subtitle "Consumerism Kills."
The problem with the picture is that these natural foods do not need to be wrapped in plastic, a material invented over 100 years ago and which is known for causing loads of environmental damage on many different levels.
In the U.S. alone, around 40 million tons of plastic are thrown out each year, according to Statista.
Many people believe most of this plastic is recycled and reused, but the sad fact is that only around 5% of plastic in the U.S. actually gets recycled, according to a Greenpeace report.
Meanwhile, plastic waste makes up 80% of all marine pollution, and around 8 to 10 million metric tons of it (8.8 to 11 million tons) end up in the ocean each year.
Currently, there are about 50 to 75 trillion pieces of plastic and microplastics floating in the world's oceans, according to the Ocean Literacy Portal, and that number continues to increase as developing nations use more plastic, following the lead of rich nations.
This wouldn't be such a problem if plastic didn't take an estimated 500 to 1,000 years to degrade, and if it wasn't killing tens of thousands of aquatic animals each year.
People had plenty to say about the plethora of plastic-wrapped dates in the image.
"This is probably the most absurd thing I have seen in a while," one commenter wrote.
"If only they came in their own natural packaging that kept their insides fresh. Oh wait," another added with a glint of irony.
"Everytime I go to the supermarket I find some new product that doesn't need to be wrapped in plastic. It makes my blood boil," another Redditor said.
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