I think we'll have to give up particular niceties about how we package things in the western world if we're to generate less trash, but it would come at the cost of removing illusions from the way we market products.
Have you been to less developed countries? They just simply do not package some products. It removes a lot of the allure of buying particular things, but also generates less trash.
Here's a simple example: utensils. In some countries, you just buy the utensil. In America, you buy a box with utensils in them, sometimes with a plastic shell, sometimes with paper wrapping inside of the box. But without the box, it feels like you're buying them from the dollar store no matter how nice the actual spoons and knives are, which commands less of a price mark up.
Totally agree, i moved from a developing country (India) to a developed country (Germany) and the amount of waste me and my partner generate in the latter is around 10x.
In India, we would buy produce without any packaging, you would pay by weight. Whereas in Germany, fruits, vegetables and even fresh leaves come pre packed in plastic. I know Germany has better recycling but the amount of plastic is crazy. Quite the shock for us.
Except it doesnt? Neary all stores in the country (Edeka group + Aldi Nord and Süd) have the option to just grab fresh produce from some kind of box, weight it and pay for the specific amount at checkout. If you're only buying packaged stuff thats because you find it more convenient, not because unpackaged isnt availabe.
There are plenty of fresh produce items only available wrapped in plastic. Fresh herbs for example, and certain fruits, like berries etc. Either way, I'd say that more produce is sold packed in plastic than not, at least in my local stores.
Counterpoint: in Thailand, I was surprised to see the sheer amount of single use plastic. Tiny plastic bags put inside larger plastic bags. Individually wrapped candies put inside larger bags. And of course the usual plastic sleeves around all utensils.
The developing world has cheap communal kitchens, and so cooking at home is optional.
In my country (Ukraine) its cheaper to go to a restaurant for 'business lunch' which is soup, potatoes+vegetables+meat, and juice, for $3.35.
As a single guy I can't cook that cheaply at home, which is not surprising when I am buying small portions with a huge amount of packaging around them.
Its really a shame that this concept is not more broadly applied in the West, and that restaurant food has sales tax attached to it whilst grocery food usually doesn't. We could reduce food and packaging waste if we taxed communal kitchens at 0% and shifted more people to eating inside them.
Moved from the US to Iceland. I thought plastic waste was bad before I got here, until I went to the meat and produce sections of the grocery store here.
Have you been to less developed countries? They just simply do not package some products. It removes a lot of the allure of buying particular things, but also generates less trash.
Here's a simple example: utensils. In some countries, you just buy the utensil. In America, you buy a box with utensils in them, sometimes with a plastic shell, sometimes with paper wrapping inside of the box. But without the box, it feels like you're buying them from the dollar store no matter how nice the actual spoons and knives are, which commands less of a price mark up.