Customers angry over Woolworth’s decision to wrap fruit in individual plastic packaging for sale have again lashed the retailer over Facebook.
The supermarket giant recently began wrapping fruit in plastic instead of selling it loose as has traditionally been the case.
The decision comes at a time of heightened consumer awareness about the problem of plastic pollution, after Woolworths itself banned single-use plastic bags in all stores last year.
Angry customers have been posting photos of Woolworths plastic packaging that was not needed in the past, asking why they are using it when there is a problem with plastic pollution, reigniting an on-going grievance that has been simmering for months
Public pressure has forced the recent ban of single-use plastic shopping bags in every Australian jurisdiction other than New South Wales and Victoria – with Victoria set to enforce the ban next month.
An irritated Woolworths customer snapped a picture inside a Melbourne store and posted it to the supermarket chain’s Facebook page on Sunday showing the ‘mini’ versions of fruit wrapped in plastic in packs of five: five mini apples, five mini mandarins, five mini pears.
‘Seriously Woolworths? All this plastic, for what reason? Because they’re ‘mini’?,’ the shopper wrote.
The post re-ignited the outrage and prompted others to share grievances.
Woolworths refused to say why they were using the unwanted packaging on Monday or whether they’d stop. Instead they said they had rolled out plastic recycling stations in stores
When the post from Sunday disappeared, shoppers simply scrolled down to old posts from May on the supermarket’s Facebook page to vent on earlier threads.
In a selection typical of hundreds of comments visible on Woolworth’s Facebook page, shopper Libby Barron posted a photograph of five mini-bananas packed in plastic containers with a scathing comment.
‘Bananas in plastic containers. Woolies… are you listening to your customers at all?? Watch a 5 minute video on what plastic is doing to our environment. This is ridiculous,’ she wrote in May.
‘Woolworths – can you please explain why packaged fruit and vegetables cost more than loose ones? Apart from the added cost to the environment by pre-packaging these items which don’t need the packaging, how is an item that does not have the extra cost of packaging dearer???’ wrote Sharon Fry.
The outrage reignited old grievances such as this post by Libby Barron from May calling the decision to package bananas in plastic ‘ridiculous’. Angry shoppers sought out the old post and were responding to it as late as Sunday
Liora Ballin called the decision ‘ridiculous’.
‘I’ve stopped getting fruit and vegetables from Woolies because of that now,’ she wrote.
‘LISTEN to customers OR LOSE us,’ wrote Ange Kenos on Sunday, on the thread started in May.
The plastic scandal has spread to other produce as shoppers lashed out over more unwelcome plastic packaging.
Shane Williams posted a photograph of white washed potatoes selling loose for $4.50 a kilo.
‘In plastic $1.25kg, no plastic $4.50kg. What a rip off and con for the environment,’ he wrote.
A Woolworth’s spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Monday that the supermarket chain is aware customers want them to reduce plastics in their stores and that they are working to do that.
‘Over the last 18 months we’ve removed more than 500 tonnes of unnecessary plastic packaging across our fruit, vegetable and bakery categories,’ the spokesperson said via email.
‘We’ve also rolled out REDcycle facilities in stores across the country, which allows customers to return soft plastics, including the mini fruit range, to our stores to be recycled.
‘In partnership with REDcycle, we’ve now re-purposed almost 500 tonnes of soft plastics into useful items like outdoor furniture and benches for community groups and stores. We know there is much more to do, and we’ll continue to work on our plastic reduction efforts.’
The response was very similar to their statement at the start of July in response to outrage over the practice.
Woolworths would not say why they needed to wrap the fruit in plastic, or whether they would stop the practice in response to the customer backlash.
Customers have already said they are not impressed by the recycling gesture, when unnecessary packaging is being added.
‘There is a recycling crisis in parts of Australia, adding more plastic to the world at all is unhelpful,’ wrote Martina Thaler.