Bizcuits | That ludicrous strawberry

Leanda Lee

Ever since the widely publicised plastic flotsam in the Macau/Hong Kong ferry propeller incident last June which circuitously ushered me to the Plastic-Free July Challenge, I have continued progress towards zero-waste consumption.  Single-use plastic has and continues to be the main item on my hit list as a major contributor of ocean pollutants, increasing toxin concentrations in the ocean-sourced food chain and our landfill woes.

The journey has been enlightening. Now that I know the resources used to produce the packaging, the said justifications for use and how they are disposed of, the extent of the risk of leakage from non-existent or imperfect waste-management systems, and how that leakage effects our waterways and clogs already overburdened landfill, I can mindfully make purchase decisions. If nothing else, shopping is now a feel-good activity.  My personal goal? No rubbish bin in the house.

Seeking advice on ways to change consumption patterns, I have banded together with like-minded souls, both in the online global community seeking systemic supply-chain answers, and face-to-face meetings looking for local consumer solutions to removing wasteful everyday plastic packaging. Even in places like Hong Kong and Macau, there are means and ways: zerowastehongkong.com/tips/ has some valuable ideas for every part of the home.

Delving into this world initially felt almost-evangelical flower-power hippy, but one gets drawn into the positive drive towards common goals of cleaner living and a cleaner planet: all good stuff. When the extent of the pollution problem feels overwhelming and when the push-back from retailers, friends and family becomes energy sapping, the ready-at-the-fingertips source of support and encouragement helps to maintain momentum.

And the movement is indeed gaining momentum. Traditional media is taking note of the various campaigns and messages and last week was a big week for plastic packaging repudiators. It was the week of the strawberry.

CitySuper in Hong Kong was selling an over-packaged strawberry for HKD168 “fresh from Japan”. One strawberry. One precious and precocious strawberry packed in a laminated cardboard box, tucked up in a foam sock on a bed of ‘straw’, covered with clear wrap.

On February 6, Hong Kong Free Press posted an article on the extravagance of both price and packaging of this strawberry and the exorbitance of other fruit. By the next day it was the strawberry again but this time the message segued into solutions for Hong Kong’s plastic packaging at both the individual consumer level and through a truly cyclical economy. Over the next week, Time (US), The Times (London), Evening Standard (UK), SCMP, Metro (UK – tagged under ‘weird China’), Mashable, Fox News and China Daily picked up the story, generally raising the price as the focus before the packaging issue: the environment’s not as sexy as the money.

There are now a range of campaigns to turn the plastic tide. Hong Kong’s Gary Stokes of Sea Shephard Global is pushing #trashthecheckout where customers leave behind with the retailer the unwanted foam socks, cling-wrap and plastic waste. ‘Plastic-Free HK’ has a petition to encourage supermarkets, particularly Wellcome and ParknShop, to cut the plastic wrap. In Sydney is Anita Horan’s #PlasticFreeProduce awareness campaign which is reflected in calls for supermarkets in the UK and Australia to set up plastic-free aisles and to offer customers a choice of nude fresh produce.

Each social network campaign that has landed in traditional media has shone a light on how we and the food industry – particularly supermarkets and commercial kitchens – have normalized our unsustainable and wantonly profligate lifestyles for the sake of convenience, the pretence of hygiene and visually perfect produce. The Zero-Waste Warriors – those progressive conservatives who shop with the plastic footprint of your grandparents – are gaining traction. The message is starting to move mainstream. Halleluiah for that ludicrous strawberry.