A ban non-compostable labels on New Zealand-grown fruit and vegetables comes into force on July 1.
But that doesn't mean consumers can put the stickers in their home compost from then on.
Growers say most of this season's produce has already been packed with the current plastic labels attached, meaning non-compostable stickers will still appear on fruit and veg until next year.
And label suppliers haven’t found a home compostable glue yet for the labels, despite “extensive” efforts.
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CHRIS SKELTON/THE PRESS
Rob Meates from Just Earth Papers has bought machines to make takeaway cups completely out of paper. They are compostable at home and break down without putting plastic into the soil or out to sea.
The Ministry for the Environment said the label adhesive didn’t have to be home compostable until July 2025, when global manufacturers were expected to have such an adhesive available.
Non-home compostable plastic produce labels that were affixed to produce prior to 1 July were exempt from the ban.
The largest supplier of fruit labels in New Zealand, Jenkins Freshpac Systems, said it had certified home compostable labels with standard glue available for growers.
Regional market manager Tom McLaughlin said the company hoped to have a home compostable adhesive available some time in 2024.
The Tauranga-based company was supplying the plant-based labels on behalf of global company, Sinclair International.
Making the label in itself had been “challenging”, with the labels having to last six to eight months on fruit in a cool store, McLaughlin said.
“It’s high-tech stuff requiring a product that can sit on an organic piece of fruit, and yet stay stable in the cool store, and break down only when it’s connecting with the right combination of moisture and heat and time.”
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Plastic labels on domesticly produced fruit and veg are among the next round of single use plastics about to be banned in New Zealand.
While not having a label at all was an option, that came down to individual grower choice, he said.
“A fruit label is no different to any producer wanting to be able to package their product appropriately so they can connect with the consumer.
“If you went into a supermarket and the beer and wine section had no labelling, how would you tell which wine or beer to select?”
For apples alone, there were over 30 commercial varieties produced in New Zealand, McLaughlin said.
Most were red in colour, but priced differently, he said.
“If there was no identification on the produce, the consumer’s got no idea what they’re buying. The retailer’s got no idea what product the consumer has picked up.
“The label allows the retailer to price correctly, and gives the confidence to the consumer that they’re actually being charged the correct price.
The company started manufacturing the compostable labels for certain growers this week, having received orders from about 40 pack houses around the country.
It would be up to marketing companies in New Zealand to inform consumers when labels were fully compostable, McLaughlin said.
Most labels the company supplied were still non-compostable, with most of New Zealand’s produce exported, and Belgium and France being the only other countries focused specifically on using compostable fruit labels so far, he said.
Golden Bay Fruit, which exported about 95% of its apples and kiwifruit, said it would “come down to economics” as to whether the family-run business switched to compostable labels for all their fruit.
Co-director Evan Heywood said while compostable labels might “cost a little bit more” at the moment, there was “genuine keenness for everyone in the supply chain to go to something more sustainable.”
Kiwifruit exporter Zespri said the government’s Waste Minimisation (Plastic and Related Products) Amendment Regulations 2022 that come into effect on July 1 aligned with Zespri’s commitments to have 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
Executive officer sustainability, Rachel Depree said Zespri was “fully committed” to replacing its plastic fruit labels with compostable labels, with “promising results” from the “extensive trial” to identify a home compostable adhesive.
The company was currently using an industrially compostable label with industrially compostable adhesive for fruit it sold in Belgium and on all its organic fruit.
It had compostable paper labels with non-compostable adhesives on this season’s New Zealand grown fruit for sale in France – and was monitoring the performance of those labels.
Plastic produce labels were among the latest batch of single use plastics about to be banned in New Zealand, including produce bags, drinking straws and tableware and cutlery.
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Plastic fruit and vegetable labels to stick around after ban - Stuff
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