What a shocker at the check out!Reader submitted

I was shocked to receive a collectable 'little shop' item when I was at New World. It consisted of a polystyrene block, wrapped in two non-recyclable plastic bags. I feel that New World has completely gone against their own environmental statement which says: ”As well as complying with all legislative and regulatory requirements, there is an organisation-wide focus on energy efficiency and waste reduction, which begins at head office level and runs through the warehousing and transport operations to the retail end of the business.”

This rubbish is purely for marketing purposes only and I despair to think how many of these little packets of waste they have produced. I have decided to boycott New World until this campaign is over.

 

10/09/2013  10:18 am by Nellie

I could not agree with you more Katie! New World (Foodstuffs) disgust me in their approach to "energy efficiency and waste reduction". In 2009 they introduced a charge for plastic bags, but backed down due to public backlash (see this article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10798151). Anytime I go to a New World I am appalled by the amount of packaging everywhere: in the meat section; obviously all the isles; even in the fresh and bulk sections! I would like to see more grocery stores that offer bulk sections (where you can refill your own containers), do not even offer plastic bags (even for a charge-this is how it works (successfully) in other countries), uses potato starch trays for meat items, and provides dairy products in glass containers, which you get a store credit for upon return (which also encourages customer loyalty). New Zealand has this "clean, green" image, but I am afraid our supermarkets (and other big stores) are letting us down.

11/09/2013  10:06 am by Codecraft

I also concur. I have not investigated the content of the little shop items, but that is just plain criminal. The supermarket industry is bad full-stop, I much prefer the old green grocer, butcher etc that allowed you to control your packaging. Why for instance is French bread in little plastic bags, in France it has a hand width paper holder and that works fine.

 

11/10/2013  3:11 pm by Tere

well now I never - HOW about writing to New World and grumbling, OR PUTTING YOUR CASE YOU MIGHT be surprised by the reply (demand had outstripped supply) does that give you a clue ?? - WE CAN go too far with being a grunge in the name of CLEAN AND GREEN AND RECYCLING but BE PART OF THE SOLUTION NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM BY ASKING them just why they do not give jobs to the needy and helpless to recycle little bags of joy for children to learn how to play shop - DO WE also have to kill the joy of grandparents who rushed to collect and give them as treats to children willing to LEARN - IT IS THE CHILDREN WHO will show us the way . they know we all create waste when we go shopping these days for our food - if we are unfortunately enough to live in the cities and have to earn a crust somehow ....., SO PLEASE LETS NOT KILL JOY ENTIRELY AND CALL IT CONCERN FOR RECYCLING LETS EACH DO OUR BIT - STARTING WITH CLEAN RECYCLING OR AT LEAST BEING HONEST AND RECYCLING THE WASTE FROM WHAT WE ALL BUY TO EAT. please don't take my reply to much to hear and start a battle of who is right the thing is no one is right while we GRIZZLE TO THE WORNG PEOPLE AND DON'T DO WHAT IS RIGHT . PLEASE APPROACH NEW WORLD WITH YOUR COMMENT AND FIND OUT WHAT THEY ARE ON ABOUT BESIDES ENTICING CUSTOMERS WHICH IS THEIR JOB AND CORE BUSINESS TO MAKE A CRUST TOOOOO

 

11/10/2013  3:36 pm by Tere

just imagine a totally new way to purchase milk - driven by our modern knowledge and the way our grandparents and great grandparents managed to recycle - using glass - I grew up with the glass bottles the old pint bottle - perfect for one ...,there were little ones and also quart size THAT SEEMS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A LITRE TO ME NOW FOR THE FRIDGE :- they were sent away and washed and recycled it gave NZ glass a reason to exist and jobs - AND WE ALL KNOW WE NEED ....,them more and more ..., I just hate the plastic bottles and have ever since their inception but until I collected just the lids for a year did not realise what a huge waste problem we were creating (just the lids created a big plastic bag full in A year ) I suggest 3 things - milk boozer stations - we take containers of our own choosing in the chillier isle of the supermarket if you wish to keep driving to shops - SIMPLE - DOES A WAYS WITH A MASSIVE LOAD OF PLASTIC AND THE CUSTOMER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHOICE OF CONTAINER AND THEIR OWN CLEANLIENESS OF THE CHOOSEN CONTAINER - IMAGINE THE CUT DOWN OF PLASTIC BOTTLES THEN AH ???

 

17/10/2013  9:39 am by piersdad

Glass bottles used to be returnable for 2 pennies (about 20 cents today) and remember a trip where we collected bottles thrown on the roadside in the country (yes, they littered the roads then too). After the end of the 100 miles we had recouped the cost of our petrol.

 

04/11/2013  12:29 pm by rematerialise

I couldn't even find a decent use for the packaging that they toys came in. Usually I can find something to make out of it. I did however recycle/up-cycle over 400 used New World bags into min re-usable bags to accompany the toys (miniature versions of the large ones we make which use 40 recycled bags each to make).

 

14/11/2013  10:20 am by Sue Swift

In reply to Tere on the plastic bag issue, I've spoken to the managers in the local New World and Countdown about them not sticking with the charge for plastic bags and they said too many customers complained so they stopped the practice! When the Republic of Ireland brought in charges for plastic bags, consumption dropped dramatically. I bought a bag at Kaikoura's Tourist Information office which has the words on it "Plastic bags or wildlife - You choose".
You might like to look at this article - http://www.dw.de/eu-wants-plastic-out-of-marine-stomachs/a-17204833

 

14/11/2013  10:29 am by Sue Swift

Still on Countdown, I see Progressive Enterprises won the No1 Worst Packaging Award http://www.unpackit.org.nz/ for their use of unnecessary polystyrene and plastic wrap packaging. Thank you Green Ideas for having this website in Issue 6.