Plastic Potatoes - my letter

The Manager
Quality Greens

Dear Sir/Madam

When I was in your store at the weekend, I noticed that you are selling potatoes, individually wrapped in plastic, that are labelled as “oven-baked taste from the microwave”. On closer inspection, I saw that these potatoes are intended to be baked in the plastic.

I was shocked by this for a number of reasons...

* Blatant waste of packaging - individually wrapped potatoes! Isn’t our planet already overloaded with too much plastic?

* Price - $1.50 per potato - I can’t believe anyone would consider that worth paying.

* Microwaving in plastic - research shows that when plastic is in contact with food in the microwave, it leaches toxic chemicals into the food and creates disease. Also, microwave ovens change the chemical makeup of food and in my opinion should be banned.

Your check-out staff will know me as the customer who always brings lots of cloth bags with me, as well as home-made net bags for loose produce. I will often make my choice of produce depending on whether it is loose or packaged.

I would like to see your store(s) make a stand against over-packaging and, as a first step, stop stocking these “microwaveable” plastic potatoes.

Yours faithfully,