Cardboard cartons and in-store veggie garden new normal for Woolies supermarkets

Three Woolies stores across Sydney’s east are paving the way to a sustainable future after rolling out a number of eco-friendly features soon to hit more locations.

One supermarket giant has taken sustainable shopping to the next level, after implementing a range of environmentally friendly measures in three of its stores across Sydney.

Cardboard packaging, cleaning product refill stations and bring your own container services have become the new normal for consumers residing in the eastern and inner city suburbs.

But there’s one feature that’s rarely been seen in Australian supermarkets before, catching the eyes of consumers.

The Urban Garden, located in the fresh produce department of Woolworths’ Metro Park Sydney and Double Bay, grows a variation of herbs in-store before bunches are picked and sold in biodegradable packaging from $3.

It’s all thanks to the leading grocery retailer’s partnership with Australian AgTech innovation InvertiGro which designs, builds and supports highly efficient Indoor Vertical Farming solutions.

Fully-grown basil, mint, coriander and parsley are among the herbs sprouting in the store after being transferred from InvertiGro’s rural-scale urban indoor farm in Rosebery, less than two kilometres away from Woolworths’ Metro Park Sydney.

“The new vertical herb gardens in our Double Bay Metro and Park Sydney Metro stores use a special cabinet within the produce section to grow herbs in the very place our customers buy them – maximising freshness and reducing food miles,” a Woolworths spokesperson told news.com.au.

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The Urban Garden is a new feature popping up across some stores which grows fresh herbs in store. Picture: Supplied

The initiative, which kicked-off back in May, has since gained global recognition from social media users wishing they had similar features installed at their local supermarket.

“‘The Urban Garden’ just dropped at metro Double Bay and Metro Park Sydney Village in partnership with InvertiGro and I couldn’t be more excited to eat locally-grown coriander,” Instagram user banish.au captioned alongside a Reel and TikTok posted about the stores.

The social media post was part of a two-video series, with the first clip revealing a number of other ways the store was being sustainable.

This includes not wrapping bread in plastic, using fridges with doors to save on energy and storing products in bulk food boxes so consumers can buy the quantity they want, reducing food waste.

Some of the new sustainable features being rolled out in selected stores include not packaging fresh made bread in plastic and refill stations for cleaning products. Picture: Instagram / @banish.au

Both videos were watched over 398,000 times on both TikTok and Instagram, with many viewers calling on Woolworths to expand The Urban Garden and sustainable packaging initiatives.

“Wish more Woolworths around the country were taking these steps not in the future but now” one Instagram user commented.

“That’s fantastic!!!! We need this in every store in the UK! This is the best idea you’ll ever see,” said another user from overseas.

Even a Woolworths employee was keen on the changes, urging the supermarket giant to expand the rollout.

“I work at Woolies and ours doesn’t have this yet but I would love to see it happen! I would love the cardboard fruit packaging because the plastic always breaks when I’m packing and the fruit can spill everywhere. This would be so much better.”

So the question stands, can we expect the supermarket giant to be making more eco-friendly changes to their remaining stores in the near future?

Woolworths Group has already made clear in its Sustainability Plan 2025 that it aspires to reach 100 per cent green electricity, make 100 per cent of their Own Brand packaging sustainable and to reduce food waste to landfill down to zero by the end of the next three years.

Additionally, in the past four years Woolworths has removed approximately 9,000 tonnes of plastic from circulation by already transitioning some packaging to recyclable materials.

More supermarkets are installing fridges with doors and fill-it-yourself shelving with products to reduce energy use and food waste. Picture: Instagram / @banish.au

While Woolworths didn’t specify when the new measures listed earlier in the piece will be rolled out across other stores, its spokesperson did say more sustainable innovations are still to come.

“Our customers want us to help them shop more sustainably. We’re growing greener across our stores by reducing plastic packaging, phasing out plastic shopping bags, saving food waste and switching to green electricity,” they said.

“We’re trialling a range of sustainable innovations in select stores to test which resonate with customers and have the potential to make their weekly grocery shop better for the environment.”

It’s also been confirmed that the company’s 15 and 45 cent reusable plastic bags will be phased out by the end of June next year, a sign of the supermarket giant’s commitment to reducing waste.

Natalie Davis, Managing Director of Woolworths Supermarkets said it’s one of many ways Woolworths is adhering to its commitment to “growing greener” and living up to its name as the fresh food people.

“Customers expect us to lead on sustainability, and this is one way we are growing greener by reducing plastic and ensuring the regular trip to your local Woolworths or BIG W is having less impact on the environment,” she said.

Plastic bags for fresh produce will remain in most stores until a more sustainable measure can be put in place. Compostable bags are currently being used in South Australia, while cardboard boxes are being trialled in some Sydney stores.