Plants serve a variety of purposes for animals and the environment through respiration and photosynthesis. They also provide us food, shelter and products from the beginning of their life from a seed (edible seeds can be consumed like pumpkin seeds) to their end (decomposers consuming the dead material).
When we eat fruits or vegetables we tend to throw away the leftovers in the green bins and it helps to nourish the soil after the organic material has been processed. But when we go to a restaurant, cafe or a grocery store, we eventually end up using plastic to put our fruits/vegetables in it or drink/eat from plastic products.
But some companies took innovative measures to protect the environment !
Rimping Supermarket (Thailand)
They started a novel idea of wrapping their organic produce in banana leaves instead of handing transparent plastic bags. The products the wrapped by banana leaves and tied off with a bamboo string. The banana leaves are a no-cost and effective option when compared to plastic bags.
For more information and images: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/25/thailand-supermarket-uses-banana-leaves-instead-of-plastic-packaging/#26960cbe7102
Eat Raja (India)
This stall in India utilizes the pulp/fruit to make the juice and serves the juice in its own fruit. Examples include: watermelon juice in watermelon’s shell or banana juice in banana’s peel. It is also priced cheaply. Additionally, they also utilize the leftovers to make their own bio enzymes and compost. The waste generated from fruit cups is also fed to livestock such as cows.
Hence, such revolutionary ideas do not need installation of expensive solar panels or huge amounts of time and energy consumption but they can just be simple steps incorporated in the way people do business whilst safeguarding the environment and sustaining it.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 