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Comment by 1cvmask | Hacker News Reader

From the article:

The ban on plastic packaging will apply to fruit and vegetable products weighing less than one and a half kilograms.

So it not for bigger packages. Wonder what the package size mix is? If most packages are more than one and a half kilograms?

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Spaniard here, from Madrid. A lot of fruit and veggies are sold here in prepackaged format (say, 5-6 apples or tomatoes) weighing below 1,5 kgs, specially online shops.

I would not say it is the majority but it's absolutely usual. Most likely they will become bigger so as to weigh more than the limit.

Would still achieve the desired outcome of reducing plastic consumption, right?

Possibly. Larger containers may need to use thicker plastic to be more sturdy, so there's likely to be some trade-offs.

Could be at the expense of more food wastage.

“food wastage” is not a real thing—non consumed food is perfect for composting and many other things. Organic materials literally cannot be wasted it gets 100% recycled.

Single use plastic on the other hand takes the scenic route straight into the ocean…

And more food would get discarded and wasted. If one wanted to buy 1.5kg+ tomatoes, one would today. But people don’t.

Do you not think most people would just use paper bags and still buy smaller quantities?

No idea if most people but that’s what I do every time I visit an organic shop. I also bring my own bags.

It’s not like it isn’t possible today.

You really think that you'll have to buy more than 1,5kg of tomatoes, so they don't have to change their packaging?

This seems a bit unbelievable to me.

Here in Germany the bio tomatoes in the supermarket are already in cardboard boxes, the normal one are often in cardboard with a plastic wrapper.

Woa, just checked my fridge and would you believe it, Amazon Fresh apples are now sent in cardboard boxes with no plastic wrapper!

I think people will just use paper bags. That's what we all used to do anyway, and it worked fine. I think the heavy weight exemption is targeted at items like potatoes that people often buy in large bags.

They'll just sell it without packaging, and put it in paper bags.

Dia/Amazon Prime already do this.

Why would that happen?

Does this only mean you can't buy prepackaged tomatoes, or you can't even use one of the little plastic bags that come off a roll that you put tomatoes from the display into?

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