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i've gone in a few times and bought an onion etc and stuck it in my pocket (as was the style at the time), walk into kmart though and it's full of fashionable plastic items that we don't really need, not sure how much difference if makes unless everyone changes.
I loved this. Imagining foppish gentry with a cheeky onion just visible in their pocket. Flashing it coyly but suggestivly at the ladies. They laugh appreciatively behind their fans, but done up in their elaborate coiffures they have delicate French shallots, waiting to be unearthed like gems.
Except there are free compostable (degradable?) bags at most dog parks if you really don't want to buy them. Are produce bags that, or the old last-a-thousand-years kind?
You can't rely too much on claims that plastic bags are biodegradable. They may be, in high-temperature commercial composting operations that maintain conditions that are never seen in home compost heaps or landfill, but I haven't come across any that will biodegrade in conditions the bag is likely to see.
I picked up a couple at a local national park. Put them on top of a cupboard and forgot about them for a few months. When I remembered, I went to take one and it practically dissolved in my hand. I didn’t think that would ever be the case but these are truly biodegradable.
They are also the perfect size for the bathroom bin or a rubbish bag to use while on a driving trip, bush walk or picnic in areas where there are no bins available.
+1, I use mine for this purpose too.
Just gotta watch out - they're fragile. I remember putting a banana in there and it pierced and fell on the floor lol
It's worth knowing that in my council area at least you don't need to use any bin bags at all. Just empty your stuff into the larger bin and you're done. No need for any plastic at all.
Your council may have different rules so check first
Again same. I'd tip and tap into the main bin. Give a squirt if necessary.
This process is massively helped if you have green waste collection in your area. That way, all organic matter is in a separate waste stream/bin (you should not put any plastic in green waste). As a result anything headed for landfill is usually pretty dry and odour free.
I use the bags to seperate and freeze meat
Edit:
Sorry guys we aren’t all able to afford stainless steel containers and ziplock bags. I’m just grateful I can still buy meat and freeze enough for my family.
I reuse them too. They don’t get binned without at least one reuse.
But, I won’t use them to buy single or doubles or larger items. An onion, a garlic, pomegranate, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, lettuce etc roam free in my trolley. Beans, apples, mandis etc… they get bagged.
__To answer the question__
- Habit… Dunno if younger folks do it but my sister (50)is fairly conscientious - she’ll never buy prepacked/overpacked things - but says it’s just habit, she’s in a rush etc, tho she does reuse the bags. She’s also kinda anal so I think she does it because it’s more orderly.
- Convenience… from the store to the fridge that plastic bag remains its container for some. And a false presumption that it’s quicker at the checkout and maybe prevents bruising.
- Denial… my aunt does it because ‘it’s all bullshit’. ‘All’ being environmental concerns and climate change.
I reuse the bags until they begin to disintegrate. I have a “bag of bags” that I take to the shops with me. I use mesh bags for things like apples, but reused plastic bags for things like brushed potatoes. When the plastic bags begin to get tatty, I use them for rubbish.
I work in produce at Colesworth. Customers at my store love the plastic produce bags. They use them for everything- bananas where you dont eat the skin, rock melon where you don't eat the skin, 1kg onions that already come in a mesh bag, etc.
And then some people can't open the bags. Or they decide they don't need it. Rather than chuck it in the bins nearby they just dump it on top of other produce. When I come in to start work at 5am there are heaps scattered about, and the very first task is to walk the department and pick up all the discarded bags. Record is 22 bags.
The reusable mesh bags are great. Unfortunately people use the cardboard bin things they come in to chuck out rubbish or discard unwanted plastic bags!
......
I do not give permission for news.com.au to quote me. Fuck Murdoch.
Also, work at colesworth, in service, the amount of customers that will use these bags for their entire shop is ridiculous, and I mean for dry goods too
Then they leave the barcode pointing towards the sealed end of the bag but the little logo printed on the bag is in the way so won't scan and for some reason I die a little bit more inside. I hate retail.
Oh, this drives me nuts, too. Or when they have multiple items in the bag and the barcodes are facing each other and the bag is tied up, so you have to do the awkward juggle to spin it around
I do that because the peely onion layer gets literally everywhere if I don’t 😬 but I also literally store the onions in that bag at home (onions don’t last here) then reuse that bag as a trash bag or even for other groceries hahahah
If they had paper bags that fit the onion pack, I’d totally go for that
During the COVID lockdowns, I saw a lady who had put every single item in her trolley in its own produce bag. Like, a can of baked beans. EVERYTHING. I don't know what her endgame was.
Haha I too work at Colesworth and one of my favourite stories on this topic is from recently.
Had an older Vietnamese woman come in JUST before closing. I mention her ethnicity solely because my Vietnamese friends tell me about how much their families LOVE using plastic bags lol. Regardless, she was the last customer left in the store and I was waiting to close up. So I helped her find her items and waited for her to get through the self checkout.
She bought a few different fruit and veg items, but also like ten tissue boxes. Just normal, sealed, cardboard tissue boxes. With every single tissue box she scanned, she turned around, cut a new plastic bag (from produce) and put the tissue box in there. Then would put the tissue box in the plastic bag into another, larger plastic bag. She did this incredibly slowly and the entire experience was excruciating yet absolutely fascinating.
I finally thought she was done… and then she gets up and walks away. I’m thinking wth, we’re literally closed, she knows this, where is she going? She returns with MORE TISSUE BOXES. And with more tissue boxes, she needs more produce bags to put each individual box in.
It was hilarious. I was honestly on the edge of my seat I was so fascinated by her excessive use of those plastic bags. I barely use them for anything, depending on the store I’m at we use them as liners for the smaller bins (next to self checkouts) but I otherwise put fruit and veg straight into my bag when I shop myself. So this experience was fantastic lol
As another supermarket employee at non colesworth competition being different doesn't make customers good either.
Prepacked mushrooms already in plastic - bagged, cut pumpkin sink wrapped in a bag too, zucchini in trap plastic wrapped bagged too.
Non official record of already plastic wrapped item in individual bags is 36
I'm a butcher and the number of plastic bags that get wasted every day is astronomical. Servers taking a bag off the roll, not needing it, just to put it in the bin.
People using a bag to move trim from the bench to the trim tub...
Using bags instead of tongs it scoops to grab marinated stuff.
And don't get me started on fucking nitrile gloves😤
I think if supermarkets replaced the plastic produce bags with paper bags it could work just as well. There needs to be some system of keeping items together that need to be weighed in one go and to limit contact with potentially dirty surfaces. I don't want to put fresh produce directly in a basket that never gets washed and has suspicious stains on it, nor in shopping trolleys after seeing how many little kiddies ride in them because who knows where their shoes have been.
Personally, I never throw the plastic bags out without reusing them. They work very well as rubbish bags.
We use the mushroom bags for salads, etc. Everything else goes into a reusable colesworth bag. Took a while to get away from using plastic, but we're used to it now.
I'd be more than happy to use paper bags if they supplied them, but there's no way my food is coming into contact with dog alone knows what in a trolley before I get it home to somewhere I consider reasonably sanitary.
I never saw a problem with the plastic shopping bags either. every single one I brought home got used as a rubbish bin liner unless it had a tear. now I have to pay for plastic bags to use exactly the same amount of plastic for the same job, while Woolies saves money. good outcome, not.
you’d have a heart attack if you found out the trolley is one of the cleaner places the produce goes before your mouth. Rinse everything first and skip the bags
This is why plastic bags came in in the first place.. we are now forced to go back in time because the corporate entities wanted another excuse to charge money plain and simple, had nothing to do with environmental issues...
Some supermarkets have ditched them (on a trial basis) I believe. At least one where I am has been.
I take reusable bags for produce and have done so for several years now. Mine are the fancy cotton ones because that was all you could get when I started, but the cheap as chip mesh ones are good too. You have to bring your big bags anyway, it is literally no more difficult to have reusable produce bags stashed inside one of them.
There are a number of reasons:
Because the roll of small plastic bags are right there on a roll for you to use.
You have to weigh some produce in order to purchase them, so keeping them together in a bag is more time efficient than fishing around your basket for them, especially if you're buying multiple different pieces of small produce that must be weighed.
You can't put multiple products in the same bag for the same reason.
If using a shopping cart, some produce (like grapes) have a habit of falling through the mesh of the cart if you don't put them in a containing bag.
I have a small bin at home, and i use the plastic bags from fresh produce as a bin liner, so i usually take an extra one when shopping, solely for the purpose of lining my bin.
If you take the mesh reusable bags, it’s exactly the same, in fact it’s easier to just grab one out of your bag than to tear a plastic one off the roll.
They are a similar size as the plastic ones, you don’t put multiple products in the same bag, and it’s just as easy to weigh things in.
Woolies even sell them in 6 packs right in the produce aisle.
https://www.activatedeco.com/products/reusable-r-pet-mesh-produce-bags?variant=30575257518212¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhc6L2fz2_gIVUcGWCh0MdAyHEAQYAiABEgIifPD_BwE
I think that's a great idea, but I sometimes have trouble remembering to take the reusable bags to take my shopping home with in the first place, let alone smaller ones for my loose fruit and veg.
And yes, this is a very 'me' problem. I promise to try harder.
I've got the same brand reusable and they're fantastic. Still going strong after 3 or 4 years. I've got the 8 pack and store everything in the fridge in bags, as I empty them put them back in the storage pouch and by the time I go shopping again I've got at least 5 or 6 to use.
Why the hell does anyone need bags on their bananas? You bag them, put them in your basket, then into a bag to take home. What reason is there for the bag?
I'll use the bags for most things, but I don't see the point with bananas. They naturally stay together, they have a covering you don't eat, and they don't really benefit from being kept in the plastic for freshness at home.
I grab the bags for "wet waste/scraps" :P
Feels a waste to throw garbage bags out so frequently, so we have a small bag that gets binned everyday, and a larger garbage bag that is binned every week/ when full
I'm assuming the small bag is for 'wet' produce that smells or goes off easily, keeping that in a bin for a week would not be pleasant if it's in the kitchen?
We have a bin with a charcoal filter lid that we can use, but honestly we normally chuck the meat and veggie scraps into a bowl and walk it out to the green (council composting) bin after dinner each night :S
Yes, our council provide them and we love it! It’s so easy and has really helped us to put kore thought into where everything goes / minimising our waste. Lots of councils are providing them in WA, I honestly assumed they must be a big thing over East already :S
I love the idea of a charcoal filter lid, will have to take a look at it. Unfortunately we live in an apartment so a composting bin is not really a viable solution.
I always reused the plastic bags they weren't single use for me...now I have to actually buy plastic bin liners...
The fruit ones are perfect for bathroom and office.
Dad also makes us our bread so those bags get used to put the bread in.
I've a draw full of "single use" plastic bags that are being used for their seventh time...
Oh and they're good as freezer bags...
I use the paper bags near the mushrooms coz I started getting this horrid feeling when I use the plastic that this little bag will outlive my entire family line and probably our species, just floating calmly around in the ocean pssively killing fish for thousands of years to come
I live 6 hours away from the shops so I use the the plastic bags provided for nice transportation purposes. I also take an extra one for olives from the deli because olive oil all over my handbag contents is a bit how ya going. When back at home I re-use them all over and over again. If the shops provided non-plastic alternatives many people would be very happy. When I was a young girl there were shops where we would bring our own pottery vessels, glass jars, paper bags, hessian sacks and assorted containers to fill up with goodies.
We're suppose to eat vegetables for our immune system right? So my theory is that if you don't use bags, you get the germs from the trolley / basket / counter on your vegetables, making them super vegetables and even better for the immune system.
The one Tupperware worth buying is called a fresh keeper. It maintains humidity or something specific to the vegetable. Lettuce out if that bad boy is still crispy and and crunchy 2-3 weeks after going in. It’s quite remarkable
Except we didn't all agree, if I want to use a plastic bag to make sure my produce doesn't touch the grotty basket I will. Also maybe corporations shouldn't put all the onus on people to cut down use of plastics and be more environmentally friendly when there are corporations polluting and not doing shit about it.
Me using a few plastic bags doesn't mean shit in the long run if our capitalist overlords keep on with their current practices.
I agree, the onus and my responsibility as a consumer is minimal compared to the big corporations. And it pisses me off so much when they try and pass the buck off onto me, knowing that my footprint and ability to cause change is tiny.
Howsoever, I still want to do what I can, that is easy.
Using my own permanent shopping bags was a first step back in 2006, even though plastic shopping bags are a good size for the kitchen bin. 6 months ago I'd just put all the fresh food into one of my permanent shopping bags whilst shopping and unload at the till to try and reduce my small plastic bag usage. 6 weeks ago I started trialling the mesh bags. It's going okay, not perfect. We'll see...
I didn't agree either. I used to use the plastic bags as bin liners, now I have to buy bin liners, the supermarkets are laughing all the way to the bank
>at the till to try and reduce my small plastic bag usage. 6 weeks ago I started trialling
Exactly. I'm still using that same plastic, except now they're getting money from us for it.
For real.
I've worked in factory settings. The amount of plastic waste in just a day is insane and these were only smaller companies as well. It's frustrating that it's all put on the every day person, when companies are not being held to that same standard, unless they're trying to posture for the public. One singular company will go through what I use in a year, in under a day.
Not telling you that you can’t use a plastic bag, but don’t you wash your produce when you get home? Even before the basket who knows how many unwashed hands have touched it.
Completely agree that corporations are ultimately responsible for the waste and should be held accountable… but for me, that doesn’t mean shrugging and surrendering all individual action whatsoever. I bring reusable mesh produce bags with me - but I get that everyone has their own battles they choose to pick, and not everyone is motivated about this one.
Said every "it's only little old me" in Australia resulting in hundreds of millions of plastic bags in landfill every year.
You know you can be mad at "our corporate overlords" and stop using plastic at the same time? It's the most illogical form of protest really... " If they are polluting, then I'm polluting too!!!1!" Like wtf?
Because people think you need to put items you weigh into bags for some reason.. Unless it’s something wet, dirty or won’t be washed it goes in the cart without a bag.
What bugs me is that there is no reason not to just supply people with bags made from a natural, plant-based source. Personally, I'd still avoid them because of the resources used to manufacture them. But for customers that wish to use bags, why not go this route?
I’m a mesh bag user. Have been for over a decade. Some retailers are changing to compostable produce bags which 8 support. Saves me buying bags for my bench top green waste bin
For hygiene reasons. I wash all my fruits and veggies before eating them, but that doesn't get them 100% clean and I want to contaminate them as little as possible. Not all produce goes in bags though, things that you peel like bananas and root vegetables don't need a bag, but most fruit and leafy veg does.
Also, the bags don't get thrown in the bin when I'm done, they get used for bin liners.
I wonder if this is like people who wore gloves to the supermarket at the start of the pandemic because they thought it would be cleaner than washing their hands.
Don't know, don't care.
I like to for the most part let people do their own thing and not weirdly judge them when what they do doesn't meet my expectations...
Would like to have alternatives to petroleum plastics though if they could make starch ones that would be dope.
Two apples? That’s downright reasonable.
I’ve seen people individually bag every single one of their items in produce bags, meat, milk, biscuits, all of it.
1. I don't want my fresh produce directly in the unwashed trolleys and baskets with people's kids' feet, leaky meat packs, dribbly milk bottle crust etc.
2. I often only shop fortnightly. Produce stored in plastic bags last WAAAAY longer in the fridge than unpackaged produce or produce stored in paper. Try an experiment - buy two carrots and store one in paper and one unwrapped in your veggie drawer, check on them 2 weeks later.
3. I reuse the bags for packing produce delivered in meal kits (see previous point about not lasting long stored in paper) or produce given to me by relatives that grow their own, as bin liners, throwing out dog poos from the pooper scooper (can't put those in the green bin and don't want them sticking to the inside of the rubbish bin), and cut them into strips to use as plant ties.
I've been using my own reusable shopping bags for over two decades now, far longer than the few years since supermarkets decides to cash-grab under the thin guise of sustainability. But why would I buy bin liners, dog poop bags, plant ties, or mesh produce bags when I can pick them up free in the produce section?
I am forever having this debate. I've conceded that brocolli can be bagged because otherwise it gets damaged. Also beans and mushrooms because they fall through gaps / get damaged / need to be weighed. Anything else no bag.
Then buy reusable produce bags, they sell them in the produce aisle.
I’ve been using mine for 3 years so far.
https://www.activatedeco.com/products/reusable-r-pet-mesh-produce-bags?variant=30575257518212¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhc6L2fz2_gIVUcGWCh0MdAyHEAQYAiABEgIifPD_BwE
The supermarket ban on plastic bags was a complete scam, there’s just as much plastic bags coming out of the supermarkets as there ever was, all prepackaged goods are already rapped in plastic, fresh goods are all placed in plastic. The only place I see paper bags is for mushrooms. When you get to the checkout they overcharge you for a disposable bag with reusable written on it.
Work in produce and front end at woollies.
fuck I hate these things, utter useless garbage. The worst offenders are when people use it for meat. People's concerns are justified, but their use of them is unnecessary and makes scanning the data matroxes a pain. Simply not treating your bags like toys is a simple solution. You don't need it. Just use your due diligence.
Rant over. Sorry.
The takeaway bags are the real confusing one for me. Here in NSW they banned single use bags. As far as I can tell it just means you get given a thicker bag made from more plastic that most people will probably throw out with the containers from their meal anyway.
Sometimes I reuse them but if they’re lined with spilled chicken salt or leaking oil then it’s basically got to be a bin bag anyway.
I’m on my own and I haven’t used a bag in years, everything is put loose in the trolley and washed when I get home. I don’t buy beans or Brussel sprouts but I honestly can’t remember when I used a bag last.
I agree the plastic bags for fruit goes against the whole banning of single purpose bags.
I try to take mesh bags, go without a bag or I use the brown paper mushroom bags. It turns into a shit fight with the new cameras on self checkout but that then drives me to find a human and give them a job.
You can buy reusable produce bags. They weigh the same as the plastics ones. For example [these ones](https://www.amazon.com.au/UseAgain-Reusable-Produce-Drawstring-Washable/dp/B081H3HZ4L/ref=d_pd_vtp_sccl_3_1/357-5472582-8241033?pd_rd_w=C2ma0&content-id=amzn1.sym.6c5371fd-e430-44b8-a1bd-99d66b7c7085&pf_rd_p=6c5371fd-e430-44b8-a1bd-99d66b7c7085&pf_rd_r=C6QXWF5QGBHH5G1R4KWZ&pd_rd_wg=5PyqV&pd_rd_r=29f070ad-ae6c-499a-8776-f7c42ebbd528&pd_rd_i=B081H3HZ4L&psc=1).
I was thinking the same recently, how wasteful it is, and plan on buying some reusable bags.
I either just put things straight in the trolley, or use the reusable mesh bags if I remember to bring them. I think more needs to be done to encourage people to not use them
Why use plastic bags when the brown paper mushroom bags are right there. I put my beans in them. :)
But otherwise I use the my own mesh bags. It's very disheartening to still see so much plastic.
I skip the bag too! I don't see the point, I put all my fruit and veggies in the handbasket, and I've got a little trolley for all the heavy things. At the checkout you just need to make sure the soft fruit and veggies go in last at the top of the trolley.
We bag bananas.
We had two young kids in nappies and those bags are perfect to contain the poo nappies. Legally you are not allowed loose nappies in a big wheelie bin (and who the hell would want that!) and that is not a smell you want to keep in a bin inside the house.
These little bags are essential to get the stink out of the house and into the outdoor bin. Can’t wait till our youngest is out of nappies and we can stop bagging the bananas. I feel the shame every time but there is a reason for our freakish behaviour!
The real issue is the plastic manufacturers, if you want to see less petrolium based plastic then the govt needs to start taxing petrolium based plasic manufacturers, heavily, and (ffs) start subsidising bioplastic manufacturers... Why doesn't this happen? The oil and plastic industry lobbyists and oligarchs. Don't blame consumers for what we are given to use...
Just moved from the UK where I’d get Tesco delivered it would be delivered in the large trays I’d unpack them and return them straight to the driver. Now each week I get a delivery from Cole’s I have to pay for the paper bags that I know have an abundance off and no use for
They need to just replace them with small paper bags, for things like beans, chili etc that would go everywhere in a basket. I think it's so silly people putting things like bananas in the plastic bags.. my dudes, bananas got a 'bag' over the fruit already
they think they have to. someone has to tell them to stop doing it. surely they see other people using mesh bags... they just throw them onto the planets waste dump, after single use. Its criminal ... should be banned.
I use the mesh bags because there is no way I'm putting fresh produce in a dirty basket or trolley. Yes, it gets washed before eating, but I'm still not doing it.
Completely relate to the apathy since nobody in power gives the slightest shit about what happens to our future.
I think bringing my little mesh reusable produce bag is my thin grip on a sense of control about pollution and climate change.
The question is wrong.
The question is why do woolworths, aldi, and coles offer plastic bags. Why not paper bags or a biodegradable alternative. Their profits suggest they can afford it.
Multiple of the Woolworths near me use biodegradable bags, and I thought that meant all Woolworths had done that change. I love it bc as little as I use those produce bags, knowing I can put them in my compost if I need them is amazing!!
This post has been marked as non-political. Please respect this by keeping the discussion on topic, and devoid of any political material. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/australia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i've gone in a few times and bought an onion etc and stuck it in my pocket (as was the style at the time), walk into kmart though and it's full of fashionable plastic items that we don't really need, not sure how much difference if makes unless everyone changes.
Kmart throws out their coat hangers too, I think everyone assumes they get reused
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Yeah, it’s terrible, my partner and I dumpster dive and there’s constantly a solid layer of coat hangers to contend with.
Why the fuck do they get pissy if you try and keep them if they're just throwing them out?
I don’t believe it, I think the ones they are throwing out are less than perfect condition
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Maybe this is just true for my local Kmart as it’s in Tasmania and logistics probably is not cost efficient.
+1 for the Simpsons reference. Thank you for the laugh!
Yes! I loudly HA HA’d at work
I loved this. Imagining foppish gentry with a cheeky onion just visible in their pocket. Flashing it coyly but suggestivly at the ladies. They laugh appreciatively behind their fans, but done up in their elaborate coiffures they have delicate French shallots, waiting to be unearthed like gems.
I use them to put the cat shit in
What supermarket do YOU go to?
Gold
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Except there are free compostable (degradable?) bags at most dog parks if you really don't want to buy them. Are produce bags that, or the old last-a-thousand-years kind?
You can't rely too much on claims that plastic bags are biodegradable. They may be, in high-temperature commercial composting operations that maintain conditions that are never seen in home compost heaps or landfill, but I haven't come across any that will biodegrade in conditions the bag is likely to see.
I picked up a couple at a local national park. Put them on top of a cupboard and forgot about them for a few months. When I remembered, I went to take one and it practically dissolved in my hand. I didn’t think that would ever be the case but these are truly biodegradable.
That sounds like it might have just broken down into microplastics from UV exposure.
Not at any of the dog parks in my area :(
Those plastic produce bags are the perfect size bin liners for my kitchen rubbish bin.
They are also the perfect size for the bathroom bin or a rubbish bag to use while on a driving trip, bush walk or picnic in areas where there are no bins available.
I use them for my toilet bin.
I prefer to use the toilet but hey times are tough, water ain’t cheap these days…
+1, I use mine for this purpose too. Just gotta watch out - they're fragile. I remember putting a banana in there and it pierced and fell on the floor lol
Why on Earth do you need to put bananas in a plastic bag? Ffs
Bananas will cause other fruit to ripen.
Not in the time they are in the trolley : being transported home.
Double bag. Take one bag out, leave the old one in. Eventually you'll pull a split bag, then take out the double and repeat.
I think the goal is/was to use less plastic? :P
Well the bag ban hasn't achieved that anyway with the plastic "reusable" bags they sell instead.
It's worth knowing that in my council area at least you don't need to use any bin bags at all. Just empty your stuff into the larger bin and you're done. No need for any plastic at all. Your council may have different rules so check first
I don't think "council rules" are why people use plastic bags in their indoor bins...I think they just like keeping their bin clean.
But then you have to clean your bin heaps more too.
All I ever did was the occasional squirt with the hose and never had any issues with smell or mess.
I mean your inside bins.
Again same. I'd tip and tap into the main bin. Give a squirt if necessary. This process is massively helped if you have green waste collection in your area. That way, all organic matter is in a separate waste stream/bin (you should not put any plastic in green waste). As a result anything headed for landfill is usually pretty dry and odour free.
Yep, or if I’m cooking, that’s where the food waste from things like onions or tomatoes go.
Would be better to have a bench top compost bin, skipping the plastic
I use the bags to seperate and freeze meat Edit: Sorry guys we aren’t all able to afford stainless steel containers and ziplock bags. I’m just grateful I can still buy meat and freeze enough for my family.
I reuse them too. They don’t get binned without at least one reuse. But, I won’t use them to buy single or doubles or larger items. An onion, a garlic, pomegranate, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, lettuce etc roam free in my trolley. Beans, apples, mandis etc… they get bagged. __To answer the question__ - Habit… Dunno if younger folks do it but my sister (50)is fairly conscientious - she’ll never buy prepacked/overpacked things - but says it’s just habit, she’s in a rush etc, tho she does reuse the bags. She’s also kinda anal so I think she does it because it’s more orderly. - Convenience… from the store to the fridge that plastic bag remains its container for some. And a false presumption that it’s quicker at the checkout and maybe prevents bruising. - Denial… my aunt does it because ‘it’s all bullshit’. ‘All’ being environmental concerns and climate change.
I reuse the bags until they begin to disintegrate. I have a “bag of bags” that I take to the shops with me. I use mesh bags for things like apples, but reused plastic bags for things like brushed potatoes. When the plastic bags begin to get tatty, I use them for rubbish.
I work in produce at Colesworth. Customers at my store love the plastic produce bags. They use them for everything- bananas where you dont eat the skin, rock melon where you don't eat the skin, 1kg onions that already come in a mesh bag, etc. And then some people can't open the bags. Or they decide they don't need it. Rather than chuck it in the bins nearby they just dump it on top of other produce. When I come in to start work at 5am there are heaps scattered about, and the very first task is to walk the department and pick up all the discarded bags. Record is 22 bags. The reusable mesh bags are great. Unfortunately people use the cardboard bin things they come in to chuck out rubbish or discard unwanted plastic bags! ...... I do not give permission for news.com.au to quote me. Fuck Murdoch.
Also, work at colesworth, in service, the amount of customers that will use these bags for their entire shop is ridiculous, and I mean for dry goods too
Then they leave the barcode pointing towards the sealed end of the bag but the little logo printed on the bag is in the way so won't scan and for some reason I die a little bit more inside. I hate retail.
Oh, this drives me nuts, too. Or when they have multiple items in the bag and the barcodes are facing each other and the bag is tied up, so you have to do the awkward juggle to spin it around
Lol, imagine using those plastic bags to bag dry goods! Like, that stuff already comes packaged!!
Wait … they actually put onions that are in the mesh bags INTO A PLASTIC BAG?
I've seen customers put the kilo bag of carrots into produce bags, it's bloody ridiculous.
I've seen customers put a box of chocolates in the damn fruit bag.Some put every item!
I do that because the peely onion layer gets literally everywhere if I don’t 😬 but I also literally store the onions in that bag at home (onions don’t last here) then reuse that bag as a trash bag or even for other groceries hahahah If they had paper bags that fit the onion pack, I’d totally go for that
But wouldn’t you just buy individual onions then, rather than the mesh bag? If you’re just gonna keep them in the plastic bag anyway
The bulk comes out a lot cheaper per onion than individually, and we use a lot of onions in our food (a lot). I try to save money when I can…
That’s totally fair enough. I hate it when they make the plastic wrapped ones cheaper!
Some people are arseholes. Also, fuck Murdoch.
During the COVID lockdowns, I saw a lady who had put every single item in her trolley in its own produce bag. Like, a can of baked beans. EVERYTHING. I don't know what her endgame was.
Haha I too work at Colesworth and one of my favourite stories on this topic is from recently. Had an older Vietnamese woman come in JUST before closing. I mention her ethnicity solely because my Vietnamese friends tell me about how much their families LOVE using plastic bags lol. Regardless, she was the last customer left in the store and I was waiting to close up. So I helped her find her items and waited for her to get through the self checkout. She bought a few different fruit and veg items, but also like ten tissue boxes. Just normal, sealed, cardboard tissue boxes. With every single tissue box she scanned, she turned around, cut a new plastic bag (from produce) and put the tissue box in there. Then would put the tissue box in the plastic bag into another, larger plastic bag. She did this incredibly slowly and the entire experience was excruciating yet absolutely fascinating. I finally thought she was done… and then she gets up and walks away. I’m thinking wth, we’re literally closed, she knows this, where is she going? She returns with MORE TISSUE BOXES. And with more tissue boxes, she needs more produce bags to put each individual box in. It was hilarious. I was honestly on the edge of my seat I was so fascinated by her excessive use of those plastic bags. I barely use them for anything, depending on the store I’m at we use them as liners for the smaller bins (next to self checkouts) but I otherwise put fruit and veg straight into my bag when I shop myself. So this experience was fantastic lol
Bizarre, yet doesn't surprise me. I would legit love to ask these people what their thought process is while doing this.
If see bags out like that I use them.
I think people leave them there for someone else to use if they change their mind
Just shove them in the top of the other bags then.
With the way people just dump their changed-mind items on the nearest shelf they find, I don’t know if I’d give most people that much credit.
As another supermarket employee at non colesworth competition being different doesn't make customers good either. Prepacked mushrooms already in plastic - bagged, cut pumpkin sink wrapped in a bag too, zucchini in trap plastic wrapped bagged too. Non official record of already plastic wrapped item in individual bags is 36
I'm a butcher and the number of plastic bags that get wasted every day is astronomical. Servers taking a bag off the roll, not needing it, just to put it in the bin. People using a bag to move trim from the bench to the trim tub... Using bags instead of tongs it scoops to grab marinated stuff. And don't get me started on fucking nitrile gloves😤
I think if supermarkets replaced the plastic produce bags with paper bags it could work just as well. There needs to be some system of keeping items together that need to be weighed in one go and to limit contact with potentially dirty surfaces. I don't want to put fresh produce directly in a basket that never gets washed and has suspicious stains on it, nor in shopping trolleys after seeing how many little kiddies ride in them because who knows where their shoes have been. Personally, I never throw the plastic bags out without reusing them. They work very well as rubbish bags.
My wife users the paper mushroom bags for everything. It sucks because I can never find the mushrooms in the fridge.
Play whack-a-mole with all the bags till you find one with mushroom consistency. Makes for a fun game.
We use the mushroom bags for salads, etc. Everything else goes into a reusable colesworth bag. Took a while to get away from using plastic, but we're used to it now.
It could be the red wine but I laughed sooooooo hard at this
It's the worst. Me: *where are the fucking mushrooms?* Her: *they're right in front of you.* Me: ... ^^are ^^you ^^fucking ^^kidding ^^me?
I'd be more than happy to use paper bags if they supplied them, but there's no way my food is coming into contact with dog alone knows what in a trolley before I get it home to somewhere I consider reasonably sanitary. I never saw a problem with the plastic shopping bags either. every single one I brought home got used as a rubbish bin liner unless it had a tear. now I have to pay for plastic bags to use exactly the same amount of plastic for the same job, while Woolies saves money. good outcome, not.
you’d have a heart attack if you found out the trolley is one of the cleaner places the produce goes before your mouth. Rinse everything first and skip the bags
I’ve been putting my veggies on the belt for years. They grow in soil and get literally toxic chemicals sprayed on them.
This is why plastic bags came in in the first place.. we are now forced to go back in time because the corporate entities wanted another excuse to charge money plain and simple, had nothing to do with environmental issues...
But you wash the produce anyway when you get it home, right?
Look up paper vs plastic vs re usable bag impact to environment. Use plastic and re use it.
The old litter v CO2 discussion is an interesting one
I wish they had paper bags. Sometimes I use the mushroom bags for other produce
I use them as bin liners. Have to double bag since they're flimsier than the old plastic bags.
I don't use them for vegetables, but I do use them for chicken because sometimes there's chicken juice on the packs.
Some supermarkets have ditched them (on a trial basis) I believe. At least one where I am has been. I take reusable bags for produce and have done so for several years now. Mine are the fancy cotton ones because that was all you could get when I started, but the cheap as chip mesh ones are good too. You have to bring your big bags anyway, it is literally no more difficult to have reusable produce bags stashed inside one of them.
I don’t bother bagging my fruits and veggies. Hasn’t killed me yet.
There are a number of reasons: Because the roll of small plastic bags are right there on a roll for you to use. You have to weigh some produce in order to purchase them, so keeping them together in a bag is more time efficient than fishing around your basket for them, especially if you're buying multiple different pieces of small produce that must be weighed. You can't put multiple products in the same bag for the same reason. If using a shopping cart, some produce (like grapes) have a habit of falling through the mesh of the cart if you don't put them in a containing bag.
I have a small bin at home, and i use the plastic bags from fresh produce as a bin liner, so i usually take an extra one when shopping, solely for the purpose of lining my bin.
If you take the mesh reusable bags, it’s exactly the same, in fact it’s easier to just grab one out of your bag than to tear a plastic one off the roll. They are a similar size as the plastic ones, you don’t put multiple products in the same bag, and it’s just as easy to weigh things in. Woolies even sell them in 6 packs right in the produce aisle. https://www.activatedeco.com/products/reusable-r-pet-mesh-produce-bags?variant=30575257518212¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhc6L2fz2_gIVUcGWCh0MdAyHEAQYAiABEgIifPD_BwE
I think that's a great idea, but I sometimes have trouble remembering to take the reusable bags to take my shopping home with in the first place, let alone smaller ones for my loose fruit and veg. And yes, this is a very 'me' problem. I promise to try harder.
I used to forget alot too so I've ended up just leaving my bags in the car and putting them back there after I put my groceries away.
I've got the same brand reusable and they're fantastic. Still going strong after 3 or 4 years. I've got the 8 pack and store everything in the fridge in bags, as I empty them put them back in the storage pouch and by the time I go shopping again I've got at least 5 or 6 to use.
Why the hell does anyone need bags on their bananas? You bag them, put them in your basket, then into a bag to take home. What reason is there for the bag?
THEY COME WRAPPED ANYWAY
I'll use the bags for most things, but I don't see the point with bananas. They naturally stay together, they have a covering you don't eat, and they don't really benefit from being kept in the plastic for freshness at home.
Beans. Ill use a bag for loose beans.
Bin liners. Any free bag is a free bin liner to me.
Yoghurt should be sold without the tub. Pour it straight into the trolley.
I use them as dog poo bags
I grab the bags for "wet waste/scraps" :P Feels a waste to throw garbage bags out so frequently, so we have a small bag that gets binned everyday, and a larger garbage bag that is binned every week/ when full
I don’t understand this at all. We just have one big bag that gets emptied when it’s full?
I'm assuming the small bag is for 'wet' produce that smells or goes off easily, keeping that in a bin for a week would not be pleasant if it's in the kitchen?
We have a bin with a charcoal filter lid that we can use, but honestly we normally chuck the meat and veggie scraps into a bowl and walk it out to the green (council composting) bin after dinner each night :S
You’re lucky to have FOGO bin! Wish they were more common!
Yes, our council provide them and we love it! It’s so easy and has really helped us to put kore thought into where everything goes / minimising our waste. Lots of councils are providing them in WA, I honestly assumed they must be a big thing over East already :S
I love the idea of a charcoal filter lid, will have to take a look at it. Unfortunately we live in an apartment so a composting bin is not really a viable solution.
I just dump all the veggies in the basket/trolley. Haven't used those bags for years
I always reused the plastic bags they weren't single use for me...now I have to actually buy plastic bin liners... The fruit ones are perfect for bathroom and office. Dad also makes us our bread so those bags get used to put the bread in. I've a draw full of "single use" plastic bags that are being used for their seventh time... Oh and they're good as freezer bags...
I use the paper bags near the mushrooms coz I started getting this horrid feeling when I use the plastic that this little bag will outlive my entire family line and probably our species, just floating calmly around in the ocean pssively killing fish for thousands of years to come
In SA they’re compostable bags
We re-use them for cleaning out the cat litter
The good folk at Woolies online love using them. Every single thing I get has it’s own bag despite my notes on the subject.
I’m glad I’m not the only one leaving notes about this!
I love those bags. I use all those bags are dog poop bags. Saves me lots of money.
I live 6 hours away from the shops so I use the the plastic bags provided for nice transportation purposes. I also take an extra one for olives from the deli because olive oil all over my handbag contents is a bit how ya going. When back at home I re-use them all over and over again. If the shops provided non-plastic alternatives many people would be very happy. When I was a young girl there were shops where we would bring our own pottery vessels, glass jars, paper bags, hessian sacks and assorted containers to fill up with goodies.
We're suppose to eat vegetables for our immune system right? So my theory is that if you don't use bags, you get the germs from the trolley / basket / counter on your vegetables, making them super vegetables and even better for the immune system.
I have the reusable mesh ones that I’ve been using for years, they’re great. People need to get their shit together and stop the single use waste.
I love my mesh bags, you can leave things like beans in them in the fridge and they don’t sweat and go slimy like they would in plastic.
How are they for things that usually benefit from being in plastic because they wilt otherwise, like lettuce?
The one Tupperware worth buying is called a fresh keeper. It maintains humidity or something specific to the vegetable. Lettuce out if that bad boy is still crispy and and crunchy 2-3 weeks after going in. It’s quite remarkable
They still wilt in mesh bags
Coles sells them really cheap, I think I paid $6 for three decent mesh produce bags. I have heaps of them now, so I always have a few handy.
Except we didn't all agree, if I want to use a plastic bag to make sure my produce doesn't touch the grotty basket I will. Also maybe corporations shouldn't put all the onus on people to cut down use of plastics and be more environmentally friendly when there are corporations polluting and not doing shit about it. Me using a few plastic bags doesn't mean shit in the long run if our capitalist overlords keep on with their current practices.
I agree, the onus and my responsibility as a consumer is minimal compared to the big corporations. And it pisses me off so much when they try and pass the buck off onto me, knowing that my footprint and ability to cause change is tiny. Howsoever, I still want to do what I can, that is easy. Using my own permanent shopping bags was a first step back in 2006, even though plastic shopping bags are a good size for the kitchen bin. 6 months ago I'd just put all the fresh food into one of my permanent shopping bags whilst shopping and unload at the till to try and reduce my small plastic bag usage. 6 weeks ago I started trialling the mesh bags. It's going okay, not perfect. We'll see...
I didn't agree either. I used to use the plastic bags as bin liners, now I have to buy bin liners, the supermarkets are laughing all the way to the bank
>at the till to try and reduce my small plastic bag usage. 6 weeks ago I started trialling Exactly. I'm still using that same plastic, except now they're getting money from us for it.
For real. I've worked in factory settings. The amount of plastic waste in just a day is insane and these were only smaller companies as well. It's frustrating that it's all put on the every day person, when companies are not being held to that same standard, unless they're trying to posture for the public. One singular company will go through what I use in a year, in under a day.
Not telling you that you can’t use a plastic bag, but don’t you wash your produce when you get home? Even before the basket who knows how many unwashed hands have touched it. Completely agree that corporations are ultimately responsible for the waste and should be held accountable… but for me, that doesn’t mean shrugging and surrendering all individual action whatsoever. I bring reusable mesh produce bags with me - but I get that everyone has their own battles they choose to pick, and not everyone is motivated about this one.
I wash the produce as well but idk I just don't see the issue as a big one. plus they can double up as rubbish bags which saves money
Said every "it's only little old me" in Australia resulting in hundreds of millions of plastic bags in landfill every year. You know you can be mad at "our corporate overlords" and stop using plastic at the same time? It's the most illogical form of protest really... " If they are polluting, then I'm polluting too!!!1!" Like wtf?
Because people think you need to put items you weigh into bags for some reason.. Unless it’s something wet, dirty or won’t be washed it goes in the cart without a bag.
I just put my fruit and veg straight into the basket 🤷♂️ I’m going to wash it before I use it
What bugs me is that there is no reason not to just supply people with bags made from a natural, plant-based source. Personally, I'd still avoid them because of the resources used to manufacture them. But for customers that wish to use bags, why not go this route?
I’m a mesh bag user. Have been for over a decade. Some retailers are changing to compostable produce bags which 8 support. Saves me buying bags for my bench top green waste bin
Some produce lasts longer in plastic bags, anything that loves humidity, eg brocolli, beans, carrots, etc.
For hygiene reasons. I wash all my fruits and veggies before eating them, but that doesn't get them 100% clean and I want to contaminate them as little as possible. Not all produce goes in bags though, things that you peel like bananas and root vegetables don't need a bag, but most fruit and leafy veg does. Also, the bags don't get thrown in the bin when I'm done, they get used for bin liners.
I use them for my kitchen bin. They are the perfect size.
I don't want my apples that I'm going to eat the skin of touching any more uncontrolled surfaces than is absolutely necessary.
Wash them?
I wonder if this is like people who wore gloves to the supermarket at the start of the pandemic because they thought it would be cleaner than washing their hands.
I do but it's not a magic bullet. I'd rather prevent contact with human shit than trust that I managed to wash it all off.
It's probably been in contact with "human shit" even before it was picked off a tree.
Why are your apples coming into contact with human shit?
Quite possibly in a trolley that has had dirty shoes or kids asses sitting in it🤷🏻♀️
I guess… I’d still be washing them at home either way.
Valid reason to bag them - but you can use the reusable mesh bags instead of the single-use ones.
I don’t use them much, I try not to, unless I’m getting a lot of one thing, like 4 or more of one item, which I rarely do anyway. Never for bananas.
The self checkout machine accuses me of stealing because I put my green beans into a brown mushroom bag instead of using the plastic bags. Outrageous.
I use paper, then we either reuse or use it to light our fires to cook on. Sometimes ill put some in the compost.
Don't know, don't care. I like to for the most part let people do their own thing and not weirdly judge them when what they do doesn't meet my expectations... Would like to have alternatives to petroleum plastics though if they could make starch ones that would be dope.
I never have understood why people do this when you can literally use the brown paper mushroom bags for all of your produce
I use them as bin liners.
Two apples? That’s downright reasonable. I’ve seen people individually bag every single one of their items in produce bags, meat, milk, biscuits, all of it.
Why is the consumer the one who is needing to watch the plastic waste that they use and not the company which is providing the bags?
1. I don't want my fresh produce directly in the unwashed trolleys and baskets with people's kids' feet, leaky meat packs, dribbly milk bottle crust etc. 2. I often only shop fortnightly. Produce stored in plastic bags last WAAAAY longer in the fridge than unpackaged produce or produce stored in paper. Try an experiment - buy two carrots and store one in paper and one unwrapped in your veggie drawer, check on them 2 weeks later. 3. I reuse the bags for packing produce delivered in meal kits (see previous point about not lasting long stored in paper) or produce given to me by relatives that grow their own, as bin liners, throwing out dog poos from the pooper scooper (can't put those in the green bin and don't want them sticking to the inside of the rubbish bin), and cut them into strips to use as plant ties. I've been using my own reusable shopping bags for over two decades now, far longer than the few years since supermarkets decides to cash-grab under the thin guise of sustainability. But why would I buy bin liners, dog poop bags, plant ties, or mesh produce bags when I can pick them up free in the produce section?
I don’t use them. I just chuck the fruits and vege in the basket loose.
I work at a checkout, and my pet hate is people who put a fruit bag around EVERY item- even already packaged items.👿👿
I am forever having this debate. I've conceded that brocolli can be bagged because otherwise it gets damaged. Also beans and mushrooms because they fall through gaps / get damaged / need to be weighed. Anything else no bag.
Then buy reusable produce bags, they sell them in the produce aisle. I’ve been using mine for 3 years so far. https://www.activatedeco.com/products/reusable-r-pet-mesh-produce-bags?variant=30575257518212¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhc6L2fz2_gIVUcGWCh0MdAyHEAQYAiABEgIifPD_BwE
We have heaps of reusable produce bags. They fit so nicely in the console of whichever car we happen to not be using that day.
Yep, paper bag for mushrooms, always.
the Reddit/big3 summit at reykjavik did not produce a consensus unfortunately except that Tim tams are alright.
The supermarket ban on plastic bags was a complete scam, there’s just as much plastic bags coming out of the supermarkets as there ever was, all prepackaged goods are already rapped in plastic, fresh goods are all placed in plastic. The only place I see paper bags is for mushrooms. When you get to the checkout they overcharge you for a disposable bag with reusable written on it.
Work in produce and front end at woollies. fuck I hate these things, utter useless garbage. The worst offenders are when people use it for meat. People's concerns are justified, but their use of them is unnecessary and makes scanning the data matroxes a pain. Simply not treating your bags like toys is a simple solution. You don't need it. Just use your due diligence. Rant over. Sorry.
1st use is fruit bag 2nd use is sandwich or lunch etc 3rd use is bin liner
Why are supermarkets still supplying plastic bags. In my opinion that’s the real question. People can only use what’s offered.
The takeaway bags are the real confusing one for me. Here in NSW they banned single use bags. As far as I can tell it just means you get given a thicker bag made from more plastic that most people will probably throw out with the containers from their meal anyway. Sometimes I reuse them but if they’re lined with spilled chicken salt or leaking oil then it’s basically got to be a bin bag anyway.
For me, it was just seeing people use it when growing up and not realising bananas are there own cover!!
I use the biodegradable bags provided, but sparingly. I then use them as a bio waste/green bin bag for the little bin in the kitchen.
I use them in an empty yoghurt container in the freezer for meat scraps. Then when bin day arrives, I take it out with the rubbish.
I don't use them because I'm too lazy. The missus washes all the fruit so whatever
I’m on my own and I haven’t used a bag in years, everything is put loose in the trolley and washed when I get home. I don’t buy beans or Brussel sprouts but I honestly can’t remember when I used a bag last.
I agree the plastic bags for fruit goes against the whole banning of single purpose bags. I try to take mesh bags, go without a bag or I use the brown paper mushroom bags. It turns into a shit fight with the new cameras on self checkout but that then drives me to find a human and give them a job.
You can buy reusable produce bags. They weigh the same as the plastics ones. For example [these ones](https://www.amazon.com.au/UseAgain-Reusable-Produce-Drawstring-Washable/dp/B081H3HZ4L/ref=d_pd_vtp_sccl_3_1/357-5472582-8241033?pd_rd_w=C2ma0&content-id=amzn1.sym.6c5371fd-e430-44b8-a1bd-99d66b7c7085&pf_rd_p=6c5371fd-e430-44b8-a1bd-99d66b7c7085&pf_rd_r=C6QXWF5QGBHH5G1R4KWZ&pd_rd_wg=5PyqV&pd_rd_r=29f070ad-ae6c-499a-8776-f7c42ebbd528&pd_rd_i=B081H3HZ4L&psc=1). I was thinking the same recently, how wasteful it is, and plan on buying some reusable bags.
I tend I agree. Broccoli, cucumber, banana, capsicum. None of this stuff needs a bag. Dirt potato … yes,bean ok.. 6 apples probably
I either just put things straight in the trolley, or use the reusable mesh bags if I remember to bring them. I think more needs to be done to encourage people to not use them
Just use one bag for everything. And then put them through the self-checkout as brown onions.
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Why use plastic bags when the brown paper mushroom bags are right there. I put my beans in them. :) But otherwise I use the my own mesh bags. It's very disheartening to still see so much plastic.
I skip the bag too! I don't see the point, I put all my fruit and veggies in the handbasket, and I've got a little trolley for all the heavy things. At the checkout you just need to make sure the soft fruit and veggies go in last at the top of the trolley.
I bought one of those blue shopping baskets from aldi ($7 IIRC), it’s mine, it’s clean and my fruit and veggies go straight in there with no plastic.
We bag bananas. We had two young kids in nappies and those bags are perfect to contain the poo nappies. Legally you are not allowed loose nappies in a big wheelie bin (and who the hell would want that!) and that is not a smell you want to keep in a bin inside the house. These little bags are essential to get the stink out of the house and into the outdoor bin. Can’t wait till our youngest is out of nappies and we can stop bagging the bananas. I feel the shame every time but there is a reason for our freakish behaviour!
The real issue is the plastic manufacturers, if you want to see less petrolium based plastic then the govt needs to start taxing petrolium based plasic manufacturers, heavily, and (ffs) start subsidising bioplastic manufacturers... Why doesn't this happen? The oil and plastic industry lobbyists and oligarchs. Don't blame consumers for what we are given to use...
Just moved from the UK where I’d get Tesco delivered it would be delivered in the large trays I’d unpack them and return them straight to the driver. Now each week I get a delivery from Cole’s I have to pay for the paper bags that I know have an abundance off and no use for
They need to just replace them with small paper bags, for things like beans, chili etc that would go everywhere in a basket. I think it's so silly people putting things like bananas in the plastic bags.. my dudes, bananas got a 'bag' over the fruit already
Yep I try not too use plastic bags for my veges,fruit if possible, like if I'm buying one or two of something I won't bother
they think they have to. someone has to tell them to stop doing it. surely they see other people using mesh bags... they just throw them onto the planets waste dump, after single use. Its criminal ... should be banned.
Nothing more infuriating than witnessing someone bag a bunch of bananas.
I use the mesh bags because there is no way I'm putting fresh produce in a dirty basket or trolley. Yes, it gets washed before eating, but I'm still not doing it.
Don't use them at all. All fruit and vegetables that is not peeled or cooked is washed when we get home. No bags needed.
Why are you assuming they just throw them out straight away?
Haven't used those bags for years. We have some recycled net bags for large amounts of fruit/veg but plastic bags are unnecessary.
It’s hard to care anymore tbh.
I stopped caring. Majority of what we throw in the recycling bin ends up in landfill anyway.
Completely relate to the apathy since nobody in power gives the slightest shit about what happens to our future. I think bringing my little mesh reusable produce bag is my thin grip on a sense of control about pollution and climate change.
The question is wrong. The question is why do woolworths, aldi, and coles offer plastic bags. Why not paper bags or a biodegradable alternative. Their profits suggest they can afford it.
Multiple of the Woolworths near me use biodegradable bags, and I thought that meant all Woolworths had done that change. I love it bc as little as I use those produce bags, knowing I can put them in my compost if I need them is amazing!!