FAQ

Preventing fake news about sustainability and the environment - PEASY wants you to know the WHOLE truth!

 

  1. What exactly is the problem with organic produce?

    Organic groceries are almost always the better option. USDA certified organic products are prohibited from using sewage sludge, irradiation, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, growth hormones, and genetic engineering in the production. However some organic farms use plastic as mulch for their plants, in order to control weed growth. Mulches that are currently allowed in organic farming are:

    • Non-synthetic, untreated materials such as wood chips, leaves, or straw

    • Newspapers or other recycled paper without gloss, glossy inks, or color inks

    • Plastic mulches and covers, provided that they are removed from the field at the end of the
      growing season, and that they are petroleum-based with no polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

    • Biodegradable bio-based mulch film - provided that it complies with the requirements
      and restrictions of the USDA organic regulations, and Policy Memo 15-1 in the NOP Program Handbook. No such mulches are currently approved for organic farming.
      - link

    read more here

    It doesn’t end here, A LOT of organic groceries are packaged in plastic which is grossly ironic considering people who buy organic groceries are trying to limit their environmental impact.

    Farms that are zero-waste or don’t use plastic mulch are:

    1. mountainroseherbs.com, USA, zero-waste

 

2. What’s the deal with grocery bags? which should i use?

A 2018 study published by DTU, Danish Technical University, made a controversial quick conclusion that “plastic is the best option.”

#1 It is totally opposite of what we’ve learned about today’s ocean plastic crisis, resource use and oil drilling it takes to make plastic.

#2 Many scientists have since questioned some of the assumptions and backgrounds that the researchers based their conclusion on (In Danish so English speakers translate). The questionable assumptions include the following:

  • transport and resources going into the grocery bag production

  • the number of uses each plastic or cotton bag has before disposal

  • construction of facilities and machinery used for grocery bag production

  • disregard for littering potential of plastic bag

  • bio-polymer & textile bag recycle potential at the end of life-cycle

    These are some issues that we at PEASY have noticed were odd factors to leave out of the equation…

#3 A definitive conclusion, in any field of science, cannot be based on one single study. For something to become even close to a theory or even a fact, experiments have to be replicated with consistency and show the same conclusions. To PEASY’s knowledge, this is the only scientific article that has come back with this conclusion.