Here’s s story that would make Captain Queeg happy. British supermarket chain Marks and Spencer has developed a new type of packaging for strawberries that staves off rotting for an additional two days—which, says Business Green, “‘showed a minimum wastage saving of four per cent’, which in effect means that 40,000 punnets a week could be saved during the peak summer season, equating to roughly 800,000 strawberries.” [Punnet: A Britishism for a small plastic basket used to hold fruit. Not to be confused with a pundit, which is an individual at whom one often wants to throw fruit.] How does it work?

A small strip inserted into punnets of strawberries uses a patented mixture of high-tech minerals and clay to remove ethylene, a hormone that causes fruit to ripen and turn mouldy.

The 8cm by 4.5cm strip insert is manufactured by British firm It’s Fresh, and does not adversely affect the packaging’s recyclability.