But how are you supposed to know it's an avocado if it's not laser etched??????????????? /s

Many people forget that a store can have two types of avocados priced differently that then needs to be distinguished from one another at the checkout. It could for example be organic Vs conventional. Or for apples there are many different types that can all look the same. I find this type of tech pretty cool. I would love to see variations of it. Maybe editable wax ink or something like that

Agreed, but since they're not avoiding packaging or etching, etching is better.

Personally, I'd rather see them etched wit guacamole recipes.

Seriously, I feel like this could all have been replaced by a paper sign...

How do you scan them at checkout? Yes you could do manual entry/lookup. That could be said about everything though.

Come to Denmark and you'll be seriously shocked by how much plastic is used for food packaging. It's insane and I hate it so much.

And not etching them as well.

Death to non-compostable produce stickers.

God I hate those. They constantly end up in the compost despite my best efforts. God only knows how many of them are part of the soil in my garden now.

Better yet biodegradable paper and glue so you just throw all the shit in a compost bin!

You dont even need the sticker. They are avocados and are distinct and easy for a cashier or moron at self checkout to figure out how to ring up.

Rice paper, IIRC, with edible ink and glue

I dunno. Supermarkets near where I live sell avocados individually out of a big plastic tub under a sign saying AVOCADOS in case you can't tell by looking.

If it saves on waste, I say go for it

I hate removing those stupid stickers before throwing them in the compost.

Bananas take really well to laser engraving.

Was about to say this. I was a bit surprised my ginger had a logo lasered into it the first time I saw this

I believe this has been tried, but is difficult to do with most produce because the shape changes as the fruit ages on the shelf, making the barcodes unusable.

Or "you could have bought a house"

Eh... I dunno. You'd be comparing the power consumption of the laser etching machine to the energy cost of shipping oil to make the plastic to make the label, shipping the raw plastic to a facility to actually print the labels, making the adhesive, then (probably) shipping the labels and adhesive to the packing plant and then adding in the power of the machinery to that actually sticks the label on.

I have no real numbers here but I could see zapping a avocado with a laser being the more energy efficient one.