A common dinner side dish has become the center of a Reddit controversy with over 100 comments.
The post features a photo of potatoes at a Kroger grocery store, all of which were individually wrapped in plastic.
Comments suggest the reasoning for this, with the most common being that it may be to speed up cooking time. However, a majority of the comments were outraged at the overuse of plastic — and made the point that potatoes have been cooked for centuries without plastic wrap, so there's no need for it now.
This isn't the first time this exact issue has inflamed social media users. A few months earlier, a Redditor posted a different photo of Kroger potatoes, sparking a similar level of outrage.
The issue? Covering produce in plastic when it isn't necessary adds another step to your dinner prep — and also poses a threat to the environment.
Plastic has become one of the world's biggest environmental issues, according to Statista. About 40 million tons of plastic is thrown away each year in America, where most of it ends up in a landfill and takes a long time to decompose. Using excess plastic only adds to the problem.
One of the comments on the post states, "This is why I have a garden."
A simple way to make sure you're not unnecessarily adding to plastic pollution is to avoid buying products with excess packaging like the ones in this post.
But, if you have the time and resources, growing your own produce in a garden is a great way to save money, have constant access to delicious produce, and contribute less to pollution.
If you're interested in getting started, you can find a number of gardening tools here.
Some comments on the Reddit post expressed frustration, with one saying, "I always struggle to get the plastic off. This just makes it harder to deal with, in my opinion."
Others jumped on the gardening bandwagon, saying, "Adding potatoes to the list of fruits and veggies I'm growing this year."
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