Parent highlights major flaw with grocery store produce items: 'It's so frustrating'

Plastic packaging has become ubiquitous as a part of grocery shopping. While there are easy ways to avoid needless plastic at the grocery store through reusable bags and mindful shopping, one parent showcased an unavoidable dilemma when herbs are out of season. Their solution was to find a creative way to reuse the plastic packaging. 

"It's so frustrating when I need an herb for a recipe and the only way I can find it is in plastic," wrote one parent on the Reddit group r/ZeroWaste. "What do you all (re)use these small clamshells for?"

Dozens of Reddit users told the OP how they reuse the item.

"Great for organizing junk drawers," wrote a helpful commenter. "Don't fall for the Amazon organizing bins."

It was suggested that the OP could use the item to organize their car dashboard as well. 

Others mentioned that it could be used to germinate sprout seeds.

Grocery stores across the world contribute substantially to plastic waste. One study found that in the U.S., "food containers and packaging generate over 82 million tons of plastic waste, with much of it being single-use."

Plastic pollution in recent decades has hit its all-time high. It takes more than 1,000 years for plastic to decompose. So once it inevitably ends up in landfills, it will continue to add to the pollution of groundwater and air pollution, harm ecosystems, and have health impacts on humans.

Simply reusing plastic products in creative, but helpful ways will save you money and stop the amount of plastic that finds its way to landfills. In this case, some solutions that the OP is considering will mean they won't have to buy storage containers, saving them money and mitigating the endless supply chain for creating more plastic storage.

Redditors sparked engaging discussions on numerous ways to reuse this single-use container.

Should grocery stores donate food that's past its sell-by date? Yes — as long as it's not bad 🤢 Yes — but only certain foods 🥫 Only if it doesn't cost the store 💸 No — it could lead to problems 👎 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"A container for crafting supplies on the go!" suggested one. "Watercolor paint palette in particular, but I'm sure there are other varieties."

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