Woolworths ban selling plastic straws and packaging

[imastawka]

Australia's supermarket giants have announced they will be reducing the level of plastic packaging in their stores after a huge backlash from customers.

In April almost 400,00 people signed a petition calling for Coles and Woolworths to 'Stop wrapping small portions of herbs, vegetables and fruit in plastic and Styrofoam.'

Both supermarket giants have come under fire in the last year for excessively wrapping things like bananas, apples and sweet potatoes. 

In response to the mounting concern, Woolworths have announced they will stop selling plastic straws by the end of 2018 and will remove plastic packaging from a further 80 fruit and vegetable lines. 

The change will apparently remove 134 million plastic straws from circulation each year.

'In the last year we have seen a shift towards more sustainable attitudes from our customers and the momentum is growing, with recent research showing a 15% increase in Australians now saying that taking care of the planet is important to them,' Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said. 

The company has also vowed to have a food waste recycling partner at every store by the end of the year. 

More here - 

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/woolworths-ban-selling-plastic-straws-and-remove-packaging-...

[zanadoo_56]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Whenever I have complained to a manufacturer recently they always ask which supermarket it was bought from and send a gift card for that supermarket.

If I don't remember I get whichever card comes to hand.  lol.

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Yes and it makes a HUGE difference if you only shop online.  Woolies accept their own gift cards when ordering groceries. 

Coles doesn't allow their own cards, let alone any non-specific ones.  Stupid company.  I was sent a Coles card on one occasion and in the end had to give it away.  I get so mad a Coles sometimes...but they are the only ones that sell my cat's favourite canned food. 🙂

[travlyn2012]

Just read a couple of articles, one is the stainless steel straws that Kmart now sells.

One persons quote: 

“Just be mindful of these stainless steel straws around toddlers,” one mother wrote.

“A local mum near me was out to dinner with her toddler when her accidentally slipped at the table and banged his head into it and it basically hole punched his head" …

https://au.news.yahoo.com/kmart-launches-new-item-aid-war-plastic-133111282.html

If there is any truth to this, Kmart are now selling items that have the potential to maim kids.

These are meant to be reusable. At  $3.00 a set, I suspect that they are cheap stainless and will corrode quickly.

And.... while on reusable products, A Sth Aust company has banned the reusable coffee cups, due to “potential health risks”.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/coffee-chain-reveals-banning-reusable-cups-024247327.html

[zanadoo_56]

An aunt once gave me a special ice coffee glass with its own stainless steel straw.  I found the straw sometimes clinked against my teeth and it was very uncomfortable.

The straw didn't come with a brush and it was hell to clean and it got mouldy very easily.  If you have the straws with a  brush under no circumstances skip on using the brush! 

I still have the glass....but someone at work stole the steel straw.  It was a very fancy accessory at the time...but I didn't miss it. 🙂

[this-one-time-at-bandcamp]

But, my dear, I'm not in Oz.......

[imastawka]

But you're on the Aussie boards, and not everyone knows that Micky D is Maccas.