Price Look-Up Stickers: Why Do They Matter?
Kruti Mukesh
A survey conducted in 26 countries including Canada, by Pew Research Centre in 2018, revealed that a majority of people considered climate change as the top international threat in the world, followed by terrorism and cyberattacks. Plastic pollution in our environment is one of the major contributors to climate change, due to its long-lasting shelf life and subsequent impact. An estimated 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Canada every year.
Use of plastic including single-use plastics is unavoidable on numerous occasions for several reasons including the non-availability of affordable and readily accessible alternatives to plastics. Plastic used for packaging comes by default with the products we buy. Plastic used in food and fresh produce packaging is essential for maintaining hygiene and integrity of food items. Plastic is also used for making labels that carry food or product information. One such example of a small plastic product widely used is the Price Look-Up (PLU) sticker (seen in the image above), used on produce like fruits and vegetables, which are sold loose or bunched, by individual units or by weight.
The International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) publishes the PLU codes for different items to distinguish them effectively. The PLU sticker carries the Price Look-Up Code and information like the name, country of origin, and price of the product. The stickers are not mandated by the government but required by businesses like supermarkets for product identification and tracing. The PLU stickers on produce are scanned and used by cash registers for billing purposes. The PLU coding system for fresh produce is used by Canada, the United States of America, Norway, the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia. Countries exporting produce to any of these countries are also required to use the coding system.
The Problem
Conventional and widely used PLU stickers are made of plastic, which does not compost or biodegrade. Mixing of PLU stickers with fruit and vegetable waste including peels and rinds creates plastic pollution in the compost which is produced from the collected food and organic waste (Waste & Recycling Residential Services). Sorting of the stickers at the composting facility is highly time, labour, and cost intensive, sometimes resulting in the food waste contaminated by PLU stickers being diverted to landfills. Organic waste in landfills increases the emission of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which has 25 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Landfill emissions account for 20% of Canada’s total methane emissions. Furthermore, the presence of large quantities of contaminants in the compost can degrade compost quality, and subsequently transfer contamination and toxicity into the soil upon integration. According to theInteractive Soil Quality Assessment Report published by the Institute for European Environmental Policy, the potential of microplastic pollution and contamination on land is 4 to 23 times greater than in the oceans. Plastic waste breaks into nanoparticles and has been observed to have entered our food chain through sea organisms and topsoil.
On March 06, 2018, the City of Calgary tweeted to inform Calgarians that PLU stickers should be taken off before discarding fruit and vegetable waste in green carts, as the stickers are not compostable. The green cart guidelines published on the City of Calgary website are useful in identifying the waste items that should be discarded in the green cart, and also the items that should not be discarded in the green cart.
A survey conducted for my research on PLU stickers revealed that a majority of people (survey participants) were unaware of the issue of plastic pollution and contamination arising from PLU stickers. As a result, people commonly discarded the stickers in the same bin as the food waste.
The Solution
This blog post is intended to help you make a difference.
Companies like Sinclair International and Accu-Label have successfully developed eco-friendly stickers. However, cost equalization is one of the challenges along with relatively less demand for compostable stickers. Demand for environment-friendly products will increase with an increase in awareness and need for sustainable products. Additionally, uniform industrial composting capabilities across the country are required for efficient processing and composting of compostable waste including plastic waste.
As the use of conventional plastic remains a reality at present, the best way to minimize plastic pollution and contamination is by implementing and following best waste disposal practices. Calgarians can minimize plastic pollution and contamination in the compost by discarding all the non-compostable and non-recyclable plastic waste including the PLU stickers in the black bins, in compliance with the City of Calgary Waste and Recycling Services. Similarly, waste in other cities can be disposed of in compliance with the waste management practices of the respective municipalities.
You can make a huge difference by adopting simple but efficient practices that collectively help to lower the cumulative effects of waste generated in the environment.