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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 06 2017, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the bananas-and-lasers dept.

The 'natural branding' process marks the outermost layer of peel without using ink or affecting taste and shelf life.

Plastic produce stickers might be a thing of the past if Swedish supermarket ICA has its way. The chain, with more than 1,300 stores across Sweden, began experimenting last December with 'natural branding,' a process that imprints a fruit or vegetable peel with its name, country of origin, and code number using a laser. The low-energy, carbon dioxide laser burns away the first layer of pigment to a clearly legible result that uses no ink or additional products. It is a superficial, contact-free method that does not affect taste or shelf life.

This innovation is welcome news for shoppers familiar with the irritation of having to pick stickers off while washing produce prior to eating. Especially for those striving to reduce plastic waste, it's highly annoying to have to pick off stickers in the produce aisle and placate grumpy cashiers who don't like looking up produce codes.

No more annoying plastic stickers.


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  • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday May 06 2017, @12:17PM (3 children)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday May 06 2017, @12:17PM (#505395) Journal

    While I'm all for reducing unnecessary waste...

    shoppers familiar with the irritation of having to pick stickers off [...] it's highly annoying to have to pick off stickers [...] No more annoying plastic stickers.

    Wow. That's a lot of annoyance and irritation for a few sentences. I mean, I'd be in favor of this, but I guess in the grand scheme of ranking stuff that's "highly annoying" to me, produce stickers never really come to mind.

    Also, I'm not sure I understand this. Why does one "have to pick off stickers in the produce aisle," and how does doing so "placate grumpy cashiers who don't like looking up produce codes"? If you pick off the stickers, doesn't that mean the cashiers are forced to look up the codes without them? I'm confused.

    Oh, by the way, some grumpy cashiers have a compulsive need for stickers, like a troll under a bridge [youtube.com].

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by edIII on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:17PM (2 children)

    by edIII (791) on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:17PM (#505484)

    The other thing to consider is that the majority of the stickers are now edible. They stopped using plastic and started using something made from corn or whatever. If you end up eating one the worst thing that happens is you have some more sugar intake. On top of that I've noticed that they've become easier to take off.

    Using a laser is better since it probably is more efficient use of energy, but the stickers are kinda of a non-issue around here.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @06:02PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @06:02PM (#505491)

      The real advantage of the branding is that it uses less energy overall and you can't switch the stickers. So, once that fruit is branded, it's a real challenge to change it if you want to switch organic for a conventional apple, you can't just switch the labels.

      The lasers are great because they just require energy and you can get the energy from solar power and cut the emissions from that tiny part of the process to near zero.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 06 2017, @08:58PM (#505550)

        I'm confident that switching stickers on produce is not a significant problem.