4 barriers to change and how to address them

Many of the decisions we humans make are based on tried and tested behaviours with a known result – habits. 

Habits penetrate every aspect of the busy lifestyles that drive our preference for convenience when shopping in the supermarket. Supermarkets cater to and even create our habits (I bet you’ve memorised the layout of your local store). We perceive that making changes to what we buy and use requires additional effort. 

When it comes to using less plastic, some elements of this assumption are true. Plastic is pretty much the default packaging material for most products, so we presume that avoiding it is impossible because using alternatives is too expensive, inaccessible, time-consuming or complicated.

These are all barriers to change, and are consistent with what Everyday Plastic followers told us prevented them from reducing the plastic waste they create.

To reduce the plastic in our lives, we don’t need to make wholesale changes. In fact, it’s just a case of swapping one habit for another. Through one category – fruit and veg – I’ll show you how you can address these barriers for cost-effective, easy and plastic-less fresh produce.

1) Access

We all have access to loose fruit and veg. Supermarkets offer many staple items without packaging, most of what you’ll find in local grocers comes loose or you can find a veg box delivery which is often over 80% unpackaged. Whether you want to use nationwide services such as Abel & Cole or Riverford or find a box local to you (check the Soil Association website), naked fruit and veg is available to everyone.

2) Time

Take some time to research your a veg box that suits your household size and budget, click to order and then sit back and wait for it to be delivered every week. It actually saves you time!

3) Money

There is a bit of a way to go before supermarkets align their pricing of all loose fruit and veg with the packaged stuff. I can tell you that in Tesco, carrots, onions and bananas by weight are cheaper loose than packaged. I would also argue that buying less (and therefore producing less food waste) will also save you money.

4) Knowledge

By reading this blog, hopefully you know more about addressing barriers to buying plastic-less fruit and veg than you did 5 minutes ago. Think what you could do with a further 10 minutes of reading!