5ywjdPumpkinPrincess
20619
554
9
Mar 11, 2026 2:52 PM
5ywjdPumpkinPrincess
20619
554
9
maliciousGman
Because there's definitely enough banana trees in the US to pack and ship the squillion tons of produce that is distributed every day.
clonedeeznuts
In America, lobbyists would bribe Congress to pass a law that allows only 1 type of banana for this and the company would be owned by the president because there's no such thing as conflict of interest anymore
willpostanything
next Balenciaga begs design..
filurilurl
Assuming you have access to banana leaves, the store does the vast majority of packaging at the store (never heard of where I live), banana leaves are =< the price of plastic, the labour costs are =< to using plastic, there are no drawbacks in terms of produce durability, the leaf packaging works equally well for all types of produce it replaces plastic for and that they're simply not tearing off plastic and repackaging it before they put it on the shelf for optics.
Then, sure.
psmith00
great idea if you have the leaves to use. America would have to start growing banana plants just for the leaves and they would become an expensive niche product.
ScrippyChan
Plastic was a mistake.
choppedliveraldente
We got corn husks coming out of our unwashed ass holes. There's that.
Chesu
It's not going to make a big difference. Even more than America... maybe even more than Japan, if you'll believe it, Thailand uses a ridiculous amount of single-use plastics per capita. If you order a drink, it will come in a plastic cup, with an itsy-bitsy little plastic grocery bag so you don't have to hold the cup directly. This kind of thing is everywhere
SMarkt
makes it easy for insects that lay their eggs in fruits and vegetables. say hello to permanent fruitfly visitors.
hortoSuperHero
Sorry best we can do is start another war…
emu314159127001
Don't we import bananas mostly anyway?
kimbozo
Here's an idea, just don't put your produce in those plastic bags? Like, you can just wash it when you get home?
IWantedOneOfThoseLongUsernamesTooSoIGotOne
My local grocery store uses compostable bags for produce. Or at least, they're *supposed* to be compostable. I've tried to do research and it seems like they actually are, but a lot of municipalities don't want 'em anyway. As far as I can tell, there is no such guideline where I live.
ActualTttony
Whose country do we pillage for the banana leaves
nasukkin
I mean... here in California, we re-use our bags. Been using the same set of like 4-5 heavy-duty plastic grocery bags for 10-15 years now, and those bags cost ~$3/ea. at the time.
Plastic usage can work and be a good thing. Just takes a little planning that extends beyond what the average retailer is willing to invest in.
cytherians
Also, there are the very thin disposable plastic bags for produce that work pretty well and are biodegradable.
TheNotGreatDane
Plastic wrap can give a cucumber ten days longer shelf life - the tiny bit of plastic used is vastly better for the climate, than constantly throwing out bad cucumbers.
Scahrossar
They have their uses but there's also ways around that. Don't over produce, don't over buy, do a better job of distributing it to those who need food. And ultimately, sometimes, you might still want to use plastic for some things. Plastic is the unthinking default for everything currently, however.
TheNotGreatDane
Yeah... your food would cost three times as much - but if you're cool with that, I guess that's an option.
1yamia1
I'm not an expert, but a cucumber decomposing in a landfill, according to Google, takes a few months to a year. Plastic wrap takes 500 to 1000 years. Granted there are the growing and shipment costs and pollution, but I'd say that plastic is far worse.
Novel idea, why not stop plastic use and donate expired food to food banks, similar to France?
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2413298/france-sets-a-global-milestone-by-requiring-supermarkets-to-donate-unsold-food-to-organizations/
TheNotGreatDane
it produces 2-300g of co2 to produce a cucumber - if it goes off, that's a much bigger waste than a bit of plastic.
cmdshift3
We have paper. I don't know why we don't use it for more stuff. It's cheap to recycle, but doesn't have a permanent effect on the environment if you don't recycle it. It CAN be farmed in an environmentally friendly way, we just need to regulate the hell out of the industry. There are a lot of ways the paper industry could be improved.
theSoulciologist
Most plastic mediums seek to serve as facsimiles to wooden or glass implements. Napkins, paper, cardboard, boxes, bottles, jars. We may well begin to see a reversion to recyclable media (plastic, for all practicality, is not recyclable).
diezl97
Make it out of sugar cane, bamboo, and other waste fibers. Grows really quickly and cheaply and takes carbon out of the atmosphere.
gobblinal
Because it's not see-through?
cytherians
Plus you can use wax coating in the case of moist food... to keep the paper from getting wet.
cmdshift3
Wax makes it un-recyclable. It can't be separated from the fibers. There are patented coatings to make it more water resistant, like Michelman coating, but they don't work as well as wax. That's the trade-off. However, even waxed paper won't kill anything if it ends up in nature somewhere: it's nontoxic and breaks down completely.
kahlas
Just as a bit of information for you 90% of paper in the US come from farmed trees. Paper mills prefer young farmed trees because they are much cheaper and easier to process than old growth timber is. The only reason it's not 100% is demand outpaces the current supply from pulp wood farms. So they purchase some old growth to make up for the demand fluctuations.
cmdshift3
Back in the 90s, I worked at International Paper. They had developed "super trees" that grow really fast. We planted one outside my office and it grew from a 3' tall sapling to ~20' in about 5 years. My understanding was that they grow far too fast and basically have no structural integrity. (High winds = damaged property) I don't know if they ever figured out how to improve them.
Just got curious and checked Google maps. That tree isn't there any more.
kahlas
Those are the improved variety. Paper mills want soft easy to masticate trees. Which means they want trees that are soft and chewy on the inside. It means their machine turning them into pulp use less energy. Since they grow in large groves they block the wind for each other and at most you lose a few on the windward side during a rare storm. They engineered them for a human purpose and they are now an abomination in nature and can't live outside the tree farms.
thinkybrainpains
Trader Joe’s really pisses me off: no bulk buying and they’ll lay out two zucchini on a styrofoam trap and then wrap it in plastic shrink wrap.fucking. Why.
an0therthr0waway
I agree. It's because their business model. They aren't Wegmans or Kroger with a produce dept in each store, they truck everything across the country already packaged. Their bread, meat everything is aged when it arrives at the stores. I would shop TJs more often if I lived out west so the stuff on their shelves was fresher. I mostly just buy their snacks and condiments but not their fresh foods.
Kittynomnoms
A single cucumber covered in shrink wrap, so you don't have to put it in a plastic bag. Amazing.
imakesoap
My TJs has single zucchini and yellow squash, and lots of singe fruits and veggies. But I’m in CA, so maybe since we have a so many stores in the area, it’s different here ?
cytherians
A long time ago, Trader Joe's used to have bulk bins at certain locations. And then... they disappeared. Whole Foods used to have a long aisle stacked with them, and now there's like 70% fewer bulk bins. I don't know why they've backed off on it.
homemadechef
Profit. I haven't seen an official answer from them but there's only one real reason a store pulls a product - it's not selling.
jamiedBreaker
Covid? Like, disease vectors?
Now, they can upcharge so there's no going back? :(
taez555
I'm guessing Thailand has an abundance of Banana trees where this would make sense? Other than racists and stupidity, what's something the US has in abundance?
RadioFloyd
Christians? Oh wait you covered that already.
CaptainYesterday
Dead school children?
GorillaPowers
Bullets
rmgurfrommars
The no longer require hide of elementary school children? If you start to run out the NRA can help you advocate for more.
BonafideHomicide
Plastic?
TungstenOrbital
Bullets
Metlahaed
Sadly, the US is absolutely gorgeous in terms of Landscape and nature, Humans ruined it all and I will never step foot there as long as it keeps up the same.
ouroborus777
rednecks
Adranix37
Evil
9z2nf02h
grass
chinesemario
Free-range pedophiles
BlueDsc
The blood of the innocent.
whiskeywonka
sanitation laws
mirrorz
For now.
jalcantara88127001
Corrupt politicians...
deletable
I’d buy products if they came wrapped in a skinned racist…..
bizclassisforsissies
Incarcerations. We have those in abundance
Pulsifer
Unread bibles?
BlindMeach
haggerton
Guns
ThisIsMyUsernameThereAreManyLikeIt
I don't want my groceries wrapped in ICE agents.
Sk3tz0
Pedophiles apparently.
rulerofthedingdongs
Concrete.
zufallszahlen
medical bills
Pala2
Plastic bags. Oh wait.
seenunseen
Haters like you
Imademyselfsquirtle
Hold up... You're calling them a hater for facts about the US having racists etc? Rofl found the nazi
seenunseen
No, i was saying that america has an abundance of haters..like him. In no way does that give support to the other things they claimed..i was merely adding to the list
Cptbluebeard7
Adding to the list means you agree with the previous items though. If you think those previous things don't belong there, you'd be wrong and it wouldn't be a list. Also, yes America has haters, and we fucking earned every single one of them.
seenunseen
People hate on britney spears
QuanticChaos
They could wrap them in Epstein files?
Marikhen
But then conservatives would be losing their groceries after paying for them. Get out to their car with the cart & everything is gone!
GRZMNKY
Copies of the Constitution? It's not like the Gov't is using them...
Snooj
Flags.
ricbri695
Tobacco leaves? Trump flags? Student loan paperwork?
taez555
The Epstein Files with Trump's name redacted.
robingal1
Unmanageable/preventable debt
Judging
Hubris
Someshithead241
Cheese
VosperOfAntarctica
imported single-use plastics?
secondgoaround
Well we already use THOSE!
DarkMagic1516
I always refuse my plastic bags, they are great for storing a few things in to keep from making a mess like flour and sugar. They also make great small open basket trash bags. Plus if you don't wanna reuse them donate them to a homeless shelter/soup kitchen, the homeless love plastic bags. Had a lady come in and asked for a bundle of plastic bags cause she worked in a soup kitchen, I asked store management if I could give her a box instead, they said yes and she was super greatfull!
areyouelonmusk
Magnum dongs
soumiike
I do t think they’d allow us to wrap them in guns.
IhopeUgetwhatUvoted4
Guns.
LucianKane
Child deaths attributed to gun violence.
TheKonstantine
Victims of gun violence?
Munchman347
Maga pedos?
ReallyOG
Size unclear. Needs some form of measurement scale…
MichikoTheJungleFox
Yeah banana trees grow all over Southeast Asia. They're one of the common plants that just grow randomly all over the place. And they grow quickly too. Looking it up, a new large leaf grows every 1-2 weeks. The plant itself only takes less than a year to reach full maturity. I imagine some banana farms are making bank selling the leaves, which normally don't really get sold much.
MichikoTheJungleFox
I used to live in a house where there was a vacant lot down the block. That lot was full of tall grass and banana plants haha. The bananas were terrible for eating though. They weren't very delicious and the seeds were too big to ignore. But birds and other animals eat them and drop or poop out the seeds, which leads to the plants spreading all over.
thisisnotfineffs
Big seeds, maybe it was plantains?
MichikoTheJungleFox
Not sure on the actual classification. I had to look for an image to show you what it looks like on the inside, but it's the one on the right. That's pretty much what it looks like lol. I think that type of banana might be the most common that you'd find in various places like roadside, forests/jungles or in open fields.
thisisnotfineffs
unfortunatelynotdeadyet
I’m confused, why is it we can’t wrap our groceries in racists? We would have to peel them first, but that not a big problem.
ChickenTendercles
Or wrap our racists in banana leaves. Tightly.
DaffydeDick
Due internal spoilage racist rot very quickly.
yamsonyamsonyams
Reusable, organic, ethically sourced leather shopping bags?
Deshalope
It would be unsanitary; they're too full of shit
modus0
And the smell would certainly drive away potential customers.
Mybzor
We coyld use their skulls. Those are certainly empty
ithoughtyousaidmorningrum
The potential for contamination could be high, but worth it.
Deshalope
What, nooo, those go right up the ass full time
swedeonamoose
ammo boxes ?
TheMellowPeril
Dead children
BeaverOnFire
Yes but Republicans prefer to stuff dead children themselves.
taez555
"Mmmm... you can really smell the Sandy Hook kids on these mushroom." :-)
an0therthr0waway
...oof...
ithoughtyousaidmorningrum
Adds a special umami
ithoughtyousaidmorningrum
I don't know if their little hands can hold enough produce to be a viable solution.
Hesterry
Oh shit... +1
SpartaWolf117
corn husks?
LesbianRedwings
As someone who is allergic to corn… … okay this is better than plastic.
witheredspoon
Clockworkdancerobot
Thing is the demand to secure those would drive the prices of those through the roof and tamales would disappear.
Mikataki
Let's not farm more of the most water-wasting crop we have, even for the sake of eliminating plastic.
sputnikrises
We wouldnt have to farm more of it. Most husks are waste currently. Could get one more use out of them before the compost pile. They wouldnt be available year-round and can dry up and flake, but should be some worthwhile ways to use them as wrappers more regardless. Like a single use sandwich/burger/street food wrapper?
HiddenSanity
I mean, in theory you just do this until you're using up most of the ones that are just being composted immediately currently, then find another solution or use plastic for the rest.
an0therthr0waway
This. Tangent: I live in NY and have never had a 'real' tamale.
dtallen243
may I recommend https://fatmamastamales.com
Atomic2
Whats a "real" tamale? Is it a football club in Ghana?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Tamale_United
Nim449
Yes.
diezl97
NY has tons of Mexican immigrants who cook delicious food. I'm sure there's an authentic restaurant somewhere. You can make them at home as well, they're not especially difficult (just labor intensive, which is why they're a special occasion food. They do freeze well at least!)
ThatLoserTheFourth
Hell, the best churro I ever had was from an immigrant lady with a churro stand in an NYC metro station. Not quite the same obviously, but if you look it's out there
nero4ty2
Need to find your local tamale lady, there’s at least one in every town
ThomMeowrke
But if you have an abundance of corn, tamale ladies should be lol Starbucks, one on every street corner.
threepotatoesinatrenchcoat
Not in the north east. My first tamale was in the military, and I ate part of the husk because I'd never seen one before
nero4ty2
There are definitely tamale ladies in the north east, just need to know where to look, construction sites, outside bars after hours, anywhere that has laborers. It’s not a shop just a lady with a cooler, I had them all over New England growing up
SquashDemon
I find that difficult to imagine. No tamale ladys? What next you gonna tell me there's no taco trucks either?
Mobat555
I am glad you got to experience a real tamale!!!
Pelican3
You don’t eat the husk?