OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA - The Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s (CPMA) latest efforts to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the Canadian food supply have hit the newswire. As the organization points to increasing concerns regarding the environmental impact of PLU stickers, CPMA’s Plastic Packaging Working Group has released a new guidance document for the industry: Rational and Guidance for Migrating to Certified Industrial Compostable PLU Stickers.

“It is crucial now more than ever to support food security by ensuring that consumers can choose the amount of fresh produce they want and be charged the correct amount for it,” stated Ron Lemaire, CPMA President. “PLU stickers enable the sale of bulk produce and reduce the need to package some fruits and vegetables, ensuring efficiency within the supply chain.”

In its recent release, the association explained that PLU stickers are the small stickers on fresh fruits and vegetables used globally to ensure that consumers pay the correct price for produce and accuracy in produce identification.

“The fresh produce industry has a long history of stewardship and sustainability efforts to ensure the industry can continue to feed the world while contributing positively to the planet and people everywhere. The recent efforts to support the industry’s journey to a more compostable PLU sticker is just one example of the many initiatives it has undertaken,” noted Mario Masellis, CPMA Chair.

CPMA’s Plastic Packaging Working Group was formed in 2019 as a way to proactively determine guidance for the industry in its sustainability efforts relative to produce packaging.

The new guidance is based on significant input from the industry and from the Compost Council of Canada to ensure an efficacious path to mitigating the impact of PLU stickers on Canada’s industrial composting industry while meeting key sustainability goals. It also builds on the substantive guidance that the Working Group has already released to assist the industry, the release explained.

“The CPMA and its members’ commitment to transition to certified compostable produce stickers is a very great game-changer for the organics recycling industry,” said Susan Antler, Executive Director, The Compost Council of Canada. “To have another industry recognize its impacts on our ability to effectively process organic residuals, transforming them to all-important compost which is being returned to our soils, is outstanding. We value our work together with CPMA and members to get to this important decision and look forward to supporting them in this important transition.”

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Canadian Produce Marketing Association