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Coles has come under scrutiny after a shopper posted photos online showing two conflicting in-store signs about plastic use positioned back-to-back in the fruit and vegetable section.
One message encourages customers to forgo plastic bags: “Do you really need a bag? Place your loose fruit & veg directly into the basket”.
The other promotes individually plastic wrapped cucumbers: “We wrap cucumbers to stay fresh longer”.
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7NEWS.com.au headed to a local Coles, capturing the same signage.
Critics joined the debate, calling out the supermarket’s mixed messaging.
“They use plastic with pretty much every product, yet put the blame on us for using a plastic bag at checkout and to bag our fruit and veg. It’s all crap. Plastic is the customer’s fault? Look around, Coles, WE aren’t the problem,” one Reddit user commented.
“Yes, we need bags. It’s never been about the environment it’s about control and money. If Coles and Woolworths regularly had their trolleys and baskets pressure cleaned… you wouldn’t need bags,” said another.
When 7NEWS.com.au asked Coles about the criticism, a spokesperson said Coles is “committed to reducing unnecessary plastic and making our packaging easier to recycle”.
“We encourage our customers to purchase loose fruit and vegetables as just a way to help reduce the use of single-use plastic bags.
“Customers can now purchase grapes in bags that are recyclable in household recycling bins rather than single-use plastic. Last year we trialled fibre-based blueberry packaging in recyclable cardboard punnets and also introduced Coles’ Unique Selection mandarins in a recyclable bag.”
The sign also mentioned fighting food waste.
However, experts say plastic wrappers usually offer little value to the product.
“I always ask, if a plastic package can extend the shelf life of a ‘fresh’ food item for days or weeks, then what is the nutritional value of that product?” environmental scientist Paul Harvey told 7NEWS.com.au.
“The reality is, there is copious volumes of food waste each day, and this happens regardless of the item being wrapped in plastic.
“Often when the item has been on the shelf too long the item will get thrown into the garbage still wrapped in plastic, heading straight for one of those near-capacity landfills.”
Companies like Coles and Woolworths have publicly committed to reducing plastic in their supply chains.
“We offer a range of reusable options such as tote, chiller and mesh fresh produce bags,” the Coles spokesperson said.
A lot of the efforts made are often cosmetic, however.
“Supermarkets run a ‘plastic free’ campaign while at the same time have a giveaway that includes useless plastic figurines,” Harvey said.
“If the supermarkets used their market power to put pressure on manufacturers to reduce or remove plastic from packaging then we would begin to see a drastic decline in plastic and other waste management challenges.”
Their promotion of sustainability is also often undercut by their ongoing dependence on plastic packaging, and the public’s need for items, particularly produce, to look aesthetic and “attractive”, she continued.
“Most of the plastic packaging that is used in the fresh food departments has little to do with product quality control, and more to do with saleability of the product… or stock inventory control,” Harvey said.
“The products that big retailers sell are one of the largest contributors to the plastic pollution crisis.”
With Australia using about 70 billion pieces of soft plastics like food wrappers every year amid mixed messaging like the Coles signs, shoppers are increasingly questioning whether supermarkets sustainability is backed by real change or simply wrapped in more plastic.
“Often the packages contain baseless claims about containing ‘near ocean’, ‘ocean bound’ or ‘compostable’ materials,” Harvey said.
“It is very difficult for consumers to actually know what is good and what is greenwashing.”
The issue plays in to a far larger concern around climate change.
“We are at a point now where the plastic pollution crisis is no longer an issue that only impacts the rest of the world. Australia is drowning in plastic and other waste, and currently there is no realistic or plausible solution for how to manage the problem,” Harvey said.
“It is time that supermarkets were required by their regulators to act on waste reduction in a meaningful way.”
