Q&A: Those annoying produce stickers

Your eco-questions, answered:

Question: I am happy that I've been indulging in the organic produce lately and have been frequenting farmers markets mostly except the times I don't I have experienced an annoying abundance of stickers! What to do with them?!

I will get a bunch of tomatoes, already separated in a plastic container at Trader Joe's, yet each individual one has those pesky stickers. And the bananas that are in a bunch, each one of them's stickered. Maybe this is necessary, but can these be recycled, or is there some other repurposing I should know about? Thanks. -- Klara

Answer: At first I was gonna tell you to chill out 'bout this small (in the scheme of things) sticker problem -- but then your question actually introduced me to some fascinating contemporary collage art -- so thank you, Klara, for your sticky conundrum!

So: Let me introduce you to the sticker man, a.k.a. artist Barry Snyder (via curbly). This dude upcycles produce stickers to make 4-ft-sq mosaics -- mostly homages of other famous works of art. Check out his oeuvre by watching this short video:

Then send the stickers to Barry -- who calls himself an "Almost World Renowned Food Sticker Mosaic Artist" -- to benefit his S.O.S. Foundation (Save Our Stickers). Yep -- All you gotta to is mail them to Barry “Wildman” Snyder, POB 301, Erie, CO 80516. Your stickers will then be reincarnated into pop art. You can even support sticker upcycling by buying one of Barry's pieces, which go for $20-$265 a pop.

To avoid un-eco hassles, try to avoid that over-packaged Trader Joe's stuff, which bugged me so much that I opted for an organic produce delivery service -- until I moved to Santa Monica, within biking distance to my nearest farmers' market. Over time, I hope TJ's will get the message and stop jailing produce in annoying packaging.

Lastly -- In case you were curious about what those weird numbers on the stickers stand for, here's an explanation. Basically, opt for the produce with sticker numbers that begin with 9.

Top photo by C Dozo via Flickr; bottom photo courtesy of stickermanproduceart.wordpress.com