Future tech meets your supermarket

Companies and consumers alike are looking to technology to help reduce waste and packaging at the supermarket.  A new technology could also see the little stickers on your fruit get the tech flick as well.

The little sticker on your fruit can be annoying and on a grand scale can amount to a lot of waste for produce processing companies and consumers.  Lasers might be the answer as a company in Sweden is trialling laser marks for their fruit and veg.

The process means that companies can keep their branding on the fruit and vegetables without adding any glues or paper to their produce.  It is being dubbed “natural branding” and could be the way all fruit and veg is handled in the future.

According to one producer Peter Hagg talking to The Guardian, “using natural branding on all the organic avocados, we would sell in one year we will save 200km (135 miles) of plastic 30cm wide. It’s small, but I think it adds up”.

Using the natural branding is not only better for the companies but better for the environment as the laser creates less than 1% of the carbon emissions compared to a sticker of the same size.  The process takes only a second and causes no damage to the fruit or vegetable.

More and more companies will be attracted to the laser branding as it will save them money in the long run. According to Mr Hagg using it “costs the same”. He concluded, “but sustainability for our consumers and ourselves is the biggest gain. I hope it will take off with more products and also non-organic. I can only imagine what a bigger retailer would be able to save. I really hope it spreads.”

What do you think about the tech?  You think that this is a great way to move away from traditional packaging and stickers or is this just another gimmick?