Produce Sticker Art

What’s the Big Deal About Fruit and Veggie Stickers?

The stickers on your fruits and veggie may be small, but they can have a big impact at the wastewater treatment plant and in the compost process!

We certainly want you to eat lots of fruits and veggies, but we want to be sure those stickers are disposed of correctly. Produce stickers are made of plastic, so they will not break down in water or in the compost process. This means that when they go down a drain, they can get stuck in pipes or parts of the wastewater treatment system, and they are tough to remove. Due to their size, if stickers are not removed from fruit and veggie scraps that go into your compost bin and they make their way to the composting facility, they are impossible to remove and will end up in the finished compost.

So where should they go? The landfill!

What can you do to help our sticker problem?

1. Remove the stickers from your fruits and vegetables when you get home from the store so you don’t forget to do it later. Make it a contest in your household to see who can collect the most stickers!

2. Shop for produce at a farm stand or the Napa Farmers Market where they typically don’t put stickers on the fruits and vegetables.

3. Reuse your produce stickers to create a work of art!

4. If you don't want to create any sticker art, put your fruit and veggie stickers in the garbage can to go to the landfill.

5. Check out what other countries are doing to reduce plastic usage, including fruit and veggie stickers. Learn more here.

Here’s how to create your own fruit and veggie sticker art!

Collect fruit and veggie stickers until you have a bunch of different types and colors- or whatever seems right to you!
Create a picture (or whatever you are inspired to create!) with the produce stickers, colored pencils, markers, pens, paint, crayons, or any other materials you want to use.
In the spirit of reuse, use any paper you have- scrap paper, newspaper, a page from a magazine- whatever you want!

How to submit your creations to us:

Send us a photo of your artwork, tag us on social media, or mail us your original creation to get a prize!
- Send photos to info@napasan.com or naparecycles@cityofnapa.org.
- Tag us on Facebook @napasanitation or @NapaRecycling
- Mail your creations to NapaSan Produce Sticker Art, 1515 Soscol Ferry Road, Napa, CA 94558

We will post submission that we receive on our websites and social media! The first 50 people to submit their creations will get a prize pack of reusable goodies -i.e. an assortment that could include pencils, pens, bamboo utensil kits, grease scrapers, magnets, activity books, mugs, etc.- from Napa Recycling and NapaSan! (Please be sure to email or mail us your contact information at one of the addresses listed above if you want to receive a prize!)