Why Use Plastic Fruit Bags?

South African fruit is welcome on shelves across the world. The freshness and wholesomeness of South African fruit has earned it a reputation for quality the world over. We in South Africa have come to regard our domestically produced fruit as an essential part of our day to day diet and it’s a feature of our daily lives that we look forward to seasonal fruit year after year. When we purchase our fruit we usually buy in bulk and it is this buying behaviour that make plastic fruit bags such an integral part of our lives. Plastic fruit bags allow us to judge the quality of the fruit that we will be purchasing due to the transparent nature of the bags and also allow for the easy transport of the fruit. There, however, consumer groups that are against the use of the plastic fruit bags due to the fact that they are not recycled and are not easily biodegradable. There also objections to the fact that many of these bags eventually land either in inland waterways or in the ocean where they present an enormous threat to sea birds and turtles, which mistake the plastic bags for jellyfish which make up a large portion of their diet. If they ingest a plastic bag it almost inevitably leads to their death.

Many manufacturers of plastic fruit bags are today investigating the production of biodegradable bags which disintegrate when exposed to the sun’s rays. This technology should be available within the next few years and allay the fears of the green movements around the world.

If you would prefer not to purchase fruit or other products that are packed in plastic bags then fortunately in South Africa you do have a choice. Fresh fruit is available unwrapped, simply ask the person weighing the fruit not to place it in a plastic bag but to rather place the pricing sticker directly on the fruit, in this way you avoid the possibility of contributing to an ever increasing amount of plastic pollution that our society is struggling to cope with.

For more information on plastic fruit bags and their uses, please contact us.