Supermarket called out over 'hypocritical' store signage

Shoppers are questioning the supermarket chain over an unflattering photo that has gone viral on social media. But, it seems there's a simple explanation.

Supermarkets are always trying to make things more environmentally friendly.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen shoppers encouraged to bring their own reusable bags, ‘ugly’ fruit and veg promoted to reduce waste, and, most recently, plastic grape bags turned to paper.

But, after one shopper snapped a not-so-flattering photo at their local Coles, the supermarket has come under question for their hypocrisy.

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Image: Reddit.

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So much for reducing plastic!

An Aussie Coles shopper has taken to Reddit sharing a photo of a veggie display.

In the photo, you can see a host of cherry tomatoes packaged in small plastic containers. But, above is a sign advertising their reusable produce bags.

“‘Reducing Plastic’ yeah about that…” the person captioned the image.

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“Would be cool if they did loose cherry tomatoes”

Many commenters on the post were fuming about the image, saying there should be more effort put into packaging items like these sustainably - in line with their new ethos.

“Would be cool if they did loose cherry tomatoes per KG, the same way they do gourmet//truss. Gimme a little brown mushroom bag & a small scoop! I never need 250g anyway,” one commenter said.

“Some other supermarkets [do] do that. My local Foodland always has loose ones for sale, and their price per kilogram is almost always cheaper,” another replied.

“Paper bag and some scales would be be a good alternative. My partner & I have started shopping at bulk food stores when we can. We take our containers in, have them weighed and fill with how much we need,” one commenter suggested.

“I'll never understand why these couldn't be replaced by a cardboard box with a thin plastic film on the lid,” another person said.

Others said it was representative of a larger issue we just can’t seem to tackle.

“Paper straws and wooden cutlery will save the world, though,” one commenter said sarcastically.

“It was quite funny being in Japan where there’s a significant push to reduce plastic.. and yet everything, everything, is wrapped in plastic. Fruit. Vegetables. Disposable cutlery. Napkins. Straws. Even the coffee stirrer they provide in hotel rooms. All wrapped in plastic,” said another.

What’s the solution?

But, the issue was quickly squashed - literally - when a few commenters pointed out the obvious reason why they can’t always be stored loosely.

“Can you imagine how much would get thrown out? Say you put them in a 10kg box and had people scooping them out, I reckon you could end up with 2kg at the bottom that are either mashed and damaged from scooping or so covered in pulp from burst ones above that no one would go near them,” one person stated.

“I worked in a fresh fruit and veg store. You do NOT want this,” another agreed.

“Cherry Tomatoes have an incredibly low shelf life, they just randomly burst out into mold and attract fruit flies. My job at the start of every shift was inspecting every punnet and getting rid of all the moldy ones, and every day I’d at least pull 5 from the 96 or so punnets there, usually more.

“Now imagine a giant open box of them, no plastic at all, sold by the kilo. Not only would it be unreasonable to ask someone to inspect every single individual cherry tomato, but mold would spread way faster and there’d be even more wasted product.”

Perhaps some cardboard punnets are in their future?

Originally published as Supermarket called out over 'hypocritical' store signage