This is why Yorkshire based supermarket giant Morrisons will no longer wrap their cucumbers in plastic

Yorkshire based supermarket giant Morrisons will no longer be wrapping their cucumbers in plastic - and it will prevent 16 million plastic sleeves being used each year, they say.
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Naked cucumbers

As part of their ongoing 'plastic reduction scheme', they say they will remove plastic from most cucumbers during the British growing season.

The Bradford supermarket have gained plaudits over recent months for their overt attack on all things plastic.

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Other moves to reduce their plastic usage include replacing the plastic bags on their vegetable isles for paper ones while they also aim to cut wastage through schemes such as selling wonky flowers that were damaged during the heatwave.

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Naked cucumbers

And now they have taken another step towards minimising their plastic usage with the news they are set to stop wrapping cucumbers.

Morrisons say that the move will prevent 16 million plastic sleeves being used each year.

The move will apply to all whole standard-size cucumbers and comes from 'listening to customers, who say reducing plastic should be one of Morrisons’ top priorities'.

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Cucumbers have typically been sold in plastic to improve its life in the fridge and in the supply chain. The plastic layer serves as an extra skin to prevent the cucumber’s dehydration which is important because they are typically more than 90% water.

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Naked cucumbers

However, during the British growing season where cucumbers are very quickly transported from farm to store, Morrisons say there will be enough shelf life for customers, who are looking for plastic to be removed where possible.

The move does not apply to half cucumbers which would see a dramatic reduction in shelf life if plastic packaging was taken off.

Richard Hatherly, Senior Buying Manager for Salads at Morrisons said: “We’ve listened to customers concerns and we are doing what we can to remove plastic packaging. While plastic can serve a purpose we believe this move will remove it from the environment without leading to food waste.”

The British growing season is typically from March to October.

For more information on Morrisons, visit www.morrisons.com.