Coles customer's tour of 'must visit' store explodes online
A Coles customer has wowed shoppers by sharing a tour of a must-visit zero waste store in Melbourne.
The shopper, known as @siliplanet on the social media platform, posted on TikTok to take users on a virtual tour of the zero waste Coles in Moonee Ponds, a suburb of Melbourne.
“The next best thing when the Farmers’ Market is closed,” reads the caption of the video, which walks shoppers through the eco-friendly store and showcases all of the waste-minimising shopping options, such as loose produce, dry foods and household products.
In the TikTok video, the impressed shopper shows loose vegetables, which are freshly maintained by a misting system, as well as package-less cereal and self-serve laundry detergent refill stations which dispense detergent from Australian brands like Omo and Surf.
The TikToker points out the signs Coles have scattered throughout the store displaying their “goals in reducing emissions” – which is part of Coles’ ambition to be 100 per cent powered by renewable electricity by 2025.
The viral TikTok video has since amassed over 357,000 views, 39,000 likes and hundreds of comments from shoppers praising the supermarket giant for “doing their part” to reduce plastic waste.
“This is excellent, they are trying to do their part, love to see it!” wrote one person.
“Every supermarket should be doing this,” wrote another user.
Coles shoppers skeptical about zero waste store
Not all shoppers were so quick to praise Coles for reducing their in-store packaging.
Many users voiced their skepticism, as they wondered what the supermarket did with the original packaging of the fresh produce and loose items.
“But what do with all the packaging?” asked a dubious shopper.
“So they are just taking it out of the plastics and packaging out the back? Not helping at all,” commented another user.
However, a Coles employee was quick to come to the supermarket giant’s defence and assured the cynics that they recycled all of the leftover packaging.
“I do night fill at Coles, we recycle all plastics and cardboard,” wrote the Coles employee.
Coles aims to become ‘Australia’s most sustainable supermarket’
Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said that the revamped Coles in Moonee Ponds is the first of its kind for the supermarket chain and is an important step in their focus to become “Australia’s most sustainable supermarket”.
“A key part of our ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket will be reducing our environmental impact, and we have a responsibility to help create a better Australia for future generations,” said Mr Cain.
Mr Cain said the goal is to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Part of this strategy includes the introduction of natural refrigeration solutions, like the one in their Moonee Ponds store, which claims to “virtually eliminate greenhouse gas emission from refrigerant gases.”
Coles also plan to purchase wind farms in Ballarat, Victoria, to produce renewable electricity until 2030.
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