Leamington company takes stance on plastics

By Mark Ribble

A Leamington-based company is doing their part to help reduce single-use plastics.

Westmoreland Topline Farms has recently become the first in Canada to ship English cucumbers that are not wrapped in plastic.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing Dino DiLaudo spoke to the Sun last week while on his way to Toronto to see his cukes in action at grocery stores in the GTA.

“We’re on our way to see the cucumbers in the grocery stores,” he said as he travelled with his Director of Marketing and Business Development, Joe Talbourdet.

An American Company called Apeel Science — founded in 2012 — has developed a spray-on edible coating that has allowed Topline to eliminate wrapping their long English cucumbers in plastic.

The micro-thin coating, called Edipeel, is made from the seeds and skins of fruit and vegetables. It is applied at the Westmoreland site in Leamington and can virtually eliminate the use of plastic in the industry.

DiLaudo says they have completely eliminated plastic from their English cukes and sent their first shipment off to grocery stores on June 19.

The cukes — previously wrapped individually in plastic, then packaged in threes with another wrap of plastic — are now just simply three cucumbers with a paper band around them.

Apeel Science provides the Edipeel coating to Westmoreland Topline and they have taken one of the first steps in the country to eliminating single use plastics.

According to DiLaudo, the difference will be substantial as they go through tonnes of plastic wrap every year, which does not break down and is not recyclable. It simply ends up in the landfill.

Shelf-life comparisons so far show that the Edipeel helps the cucumbers stay greener and crisper longer than plastic wrap.

Trials have been ongoing for several months with the new technology and DiLaudo credits Talbourdet with getting the ball rolling.

“Over the last two years, Joe has been instrumental in getting this treatment going on seedless cukes,” he said.

Apeel Sciences has been coating fruits and vegetables for some time in the United States.

Topline Apeel cucumbers on display at a grocery store in Toronto last week.

“We’re excited to bring Apeel-protected English cucumbers to more consumers through our partnership with Westmoreland-Topline,” said Ravi Jolly, Vice President of New Products at Apeel. “With consumers looking for simple ways to shop more sustainably, removing single-use plastics in the produce department just makes sense. Apeel’s unique plant-based protection keeps cucumbers just as fresh as plastic wrap, resulting in less food waste and less plastic pollution. Apeel-protected cucumbers have been in-store for just over a week, and we have already seen positive feedback from consumers.”

According to DiLaudo, removing the plastic from one load of cucumbers is equivalent to removing 100,000 plastic straws from the system.

“Everybody should have an ambition to reduce single use plastics,” he said. “We expect this to be the accepted practice in cucumbers in the future.”

The move comes at the right time, as the federal government recently announced a plan to ban some single-use plastics over the next year or so.