'Is this a joke?': Customers furious at use of plastic in Woolworths' after bag ban

Customers are continuing to voice their concerns over the use of plastic packaging across Woolworths stores in the wake of their plastic bag ban.

Several images have appeared online of apples packaged in plastic cylinders at the supermarket giant on Tuesday – just six days after the nationwide chain pulled single-use plastic bags from stores.

One concerned customer took to the supermarket’s Facebook page to share an image of the cylinders.

“SOOOOO glad you no longer provide plastic bags…like, is this a joke?! What is wrong with you people????!” she captioned the post.

A similar photo of the fruit was posted to the online forum Reddit, accompanied by another tongue-in-cheek caption.

‘Well done Woolworths for getting rid of those plastic bags,” it read.

The post was inundated with comments lambasting the use of plastic in selling the product.

“What ever happened to paper bags? Not everything has to be encased in plastic,” one Reddit user wrote.

Some users did suggest the complaints over the use of plastic were becoming excessive but others hit back labelling the supermarket’s behaviour as “hypocrisy”.

The images come as the supermarket faced intense backlash since they removed single-use plastic bags last week.

A Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo7 the plastic used to encase the apples is ‘”PET plastic”, which can be recycled in roadside collection bins.

They also reiterated the removal of plastic bags was part of a longterm commitment to gradually reduce plastic usage within stores.

“While our move to phase out single-use shopping bags nationwide is a big step forward, we know there is much more work to be done to reduce plastic right across our business,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re committed to removing unnecessary packaging in produce and will be trialling the removal of plastic packaging on a further 80 lines over the next year.

“This work will build on the 140 tonnes of plastic saved in the fruit and vegetables range over the last 12 months.”