Do the stickers on banana peels need to be removed before composting the peels? Depends on the brand of banana.
Pirkka Fair trade bananas have had compostable stickers since summer. Wind Lindgren
The labels on Pirkka bananas changed to compostable ones during the summer, which means that the labels no longer need to be removed before throwing the peels into the compost.
– We regularly receive consumer feedback about how annoying it is to remove the sticker from the fruit before putting the peels in the compost. We want to make everyday life easier for consumers and encourage recycling, and changing the labels to compostable ones helps with this, says the purchasing and sales manager Nanette Karttunen In Kesko’s announcement.
But what about non-Pirkka bananas? According to Karttunen, the vast majority of bananas sold in K stores are Pirkka and Pirkka Fair Trade bananas supplied by Kesko.
– You can also find Chiquita bananas in the selections in some K-stores, and the sticker material of these bananas is also compostable these days. Individual K-stores may occasionally also sell bananas supplied by other suppliers. You should inquire directly from the store about the compostability of these brands’ stickers.
There is no actual identification on the labels about compostability, so it is up to the consumer to remember for each brand how to deal with the labels on banana peels.
Plastic – at least for now
Lidl’s selection includes both Rainforest Alliance-certified, Fair Trade and Fair Trade organic bananas.
– Rainforest Alliance certified bananas have no labels at all. In fair trade bananas, the sticker is plastic, but its material is under development and our goal is that the material should be compostable in the future, says Lidl’s communications.
According to Lidl, Fair Trade bananas must have stickers that stick properly to the product, because they help the products to be weighed and charged correctly. The communication reminds us that because fruits and vegetables are weighed at the cash register in Lidl, almost 30,000 kilograms of weighing stickers are not used per year.