Woolworths customer fumes over bizarre delivery: 'Disappointed'
A Woolworths customer has lashed out at the retailer after her groceries were delivered swimming in a sea of 'unnecessary plastic'.
The Sydney woman reached out to Woolworths via Facebook earlier this week saying she was "really disappointed" to have requested paper bags for her groceries only to discover that every paper bag contained a plastic bag,” she wrote.
“This included a plastic bag to put my pudding rum, and another plastic bag for broccoli.”
Accompanying the woman’s post was a photograph of her grocery delivery, showing several plastic produce bags in use.
Large reusable plastic bags can be seen in the photo, which appear to have lined the inside of the paper bags.
A separate reusable bag was also photographed containing only a single 50ml bottle of Bundaberg Rum. Yahoo News also understands that Woolworths' partner products including alcohol from BWS are often delivered in separate bags to avoid contamination.
“I paid for paper bags for the environment, and yet I have just unpacked a bunch of unnecessary plastic,” the woman wrote.
Woolworths has been actively promoting sustainability and recycling hacks to their 65,000 TikTok followers, as well as encouraging customers to recycle plastics in store REDcycle bins.
The supermarket giant has also committed to a green future in their 2025 Sustainability Plan.
“We care deeply about leaving the environment better off for future generations,” the report says.
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'We've missed the mark': Woolworths
A Woolworths spokesperson has told Yahoo News that team members are being reminded to only use plastic bags when necessary.
“We’re committed to growing greener and reducing plastic across our stores,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve missed the mark on this order and have followed up with the team to remind them of our packing policy to ensure plastic bags are only used when necessary.
“For food quality and safety reasons, some items such as raw meat, cleaning products and some fresh produce are packed into smaller plastic barrier bags.”
Woolworths customers can expect to see more sustainable packaging changes as the supermarket accelerates its efforts to meet sustainability goals.
By 2023, the supermarket aims to have 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable Own Brand packaging.
By 2024, Woolworths intends to halve the use of new plastic packaging, with an average of 60 per cent recycled material in packaging by 2025.
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