Toronto supermarkets are finally removing the annoying single-use plastic on cucumbers
Cucumbers are the latest thing to go plastic-free in Toronto.
We've already got low-waste stores and other initiatives in the city, but now you can pick up produce without the pesky plastic wrap. The timing makes sense as there's a plan to ban single-use plastics in Canada.
If you've ever been annoyed by fumbling with the plastic wrap on English cucumbers, you now won't have to anymore thanks to a new innovation now being used in Ontario.
California-based Apeel Sciences has developed an edible, tasteless spray that actually extends a cucumber's shelf life without using a whole bunch of disposable single-use plastic. Produce lasting longer is also intended to reduce food waste.
Apeel was founded in 2012, and uses materials found in the skin, seeds and peels of plants to create an extra protective outer "peel" to keep produce fresh up to twice as long by slowing their rate of water loss and oxidation.
The new sustainably protected cucumbers first started becoming available in Toronto supermarkets around late June.
They've also successfully applied their protective spray to limes, avocados, mandarins and apples in addition to cucumbers, so we could see those around at local supermarkets too.
Right now, you can find cucumbers treated with the natural spray and wrapped with a paper band at local Loblaw and Real Canadian Superstore locations in and around Toronto.
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