In the bid to reduce carbon footprint, online grocery shopping has become a wonderful ally. We no longer need to jump behind the wheel and burn petrol for every shopping trip. It's also a brilliant time-saver!

But it seems there's a hiccup in this dream scenario, at least for one Australian mum who has urged Woolworths and Coles to ditch the paper bags when delivering her groceries.

With two pre-school-aged children under her care, the convenience of online grocery shopping is immeasurable. For her, not only does it save precious gas money, but it also means no towing kids around aisles or dealing with supermarket tantrums, and it graciously gifts her with time–the one thing money can't buy.

But it seems Woolworths and Coles' efforts in trying to make home deliveries environmentally friendly have left her unsatisfied.

'Stop delivering my online shopping in bags. I have no use for them, and they go straight from your delivery truck into my bin,' she said.

For this mum, the problem lies in the excess of paper bags she accumulates weekly, as she ends up with a dozen or so bags every week.

One mum urged Woolworths and Coles to stop delivering her groceries in paper bags due to the excessive amount of paper bags she accumulates in a week. Image source: Freepik.

Unless you’ve found a way to reuse them, these bags just end up in the recycling bin or landfill. Paper bags are also less durable and, therefore, harder to reuse.

With her short trip from the front door to the kitchen pantry, these bags feel unnecessary. And even though they are made of recycled paper, it actually takes more energy to manufacture or recycle a paper bag.

Her stand: 'Plastic is not good, but more paper bags are not better'.

She posted her predicament on social media, asking if anyone had ideas to repurpose a glut of paper bags she'd accrued.

Suggestions included lining bins, using them for compost, and even igniting bonfires.

Australian supermarkets have started using paper bags when throwing the towel in the ring on reusable plastic bags in a bid to comply with stricter reusability measures, and pandemic restrictions necessitating contactless deliveries, all in the best interest of health and safety. But these bags did generate significant piles of waste.

In response to why the bags are still mandatory after the World Health Organisation’s announcement of the end of the global health emergency declaration due to COVID-19, a Woolworths spokesperson stated that they began to default to paper bags for deliveries to 'ensure [they] comply with the new Queensland government ban on plastic shopping bags that starts [September 1]'.

Meanwhile, a Coles representative mentioned that the bag-less option was removed during the pandemic for health and safety reasons but assured that they are 'constantly reviewing delivery options'.

Finding themselves in a similar dilemma, one savvy Coles Shopper took their excessive amount of paper bags and used them as an underlay in a raised planter, which created a barrier between the soil and the ground to prevent weeds and pests from wreaking havoc on their garden.

While another shared that they now use the supermarket paper bags for whatever needed newspapers—perhaps to wrap items or packages in.

You can read more about these brilliant solutions to the excessive amount of paper bags accumulated in this article.

Coles’ and Woolworths' efforts in moving away from plastic should definitely be applauded, but it’s clear that paper might not be the best alternative. We suggest they dig deeper, explore and find a way to deliver groceries bag-free.

For members who are similarly dissatisfied with the volume of paper bags that come with their online deliveries, we encourage you to provide feedback to your local supermarkets to raise their awareness.

Key Takeaways

• A woman has criticised Coles and Woolworths for delivering their online groceries in bags, saying they are wasteful and immediately thrown away.
  
• Despite COVID-19 no longer being considered a global health emergency, the supermarkets continue to deliver using bags, which the author questions.
  
• Coles and Woolworths suspended their bagless crate-to-bench services during the pandemic and have since switched to reusable and paper bags, however, an investigation revealed that hundreds of millions of plastic bags were being secretively stockpiled and not recycled.
  
• The woman argues that although paper bags may seem like a better alternative to plastic, they are less durable and take more energy to manufacture or recycle.
  

If you have any of those brilliant repurposing ideas, we’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments below.

 

[Trudi]

Online shopping saves "precious gas money"????

Since when do we call fuel "gas"?

 

[Veggiepatch]

The biggest failure in this whole shopping bag saga was the 15 cents reusable plastic bag. How many times have you see the neighbour use them as garbage bags? Some people even unpack their groceries, chuck in the wrapping and empty containers in the bag and straight into the big bin. Basically, they become a single use bag and serve nothing more than the old school single use singlet bag. It all ends up as landfill, negating their original purpose!

 

[Veggiepatch]

Online shopping saves "precious gas money"????

Since when do we call fuel "gas"?

Only when your car runs on LPG.

 

[ceej163]

Why don,t these shops use plastic crates to deliver groceries? These could be returned after next delivery and used over and over again.

Woollies used to use crates…..don’t know about Coles…..
They dropped the crates off and collected the following week…..it worked well….but then they stopped…maybe because the online shopping go to be such a massive concern, they didn’t have room in the truck

 

[Jennylolo]

I haven't seen Bunnings sell their boxes and they cut boxes in half and put them out for customers to use at the checkouts.

the boxes for sale are the packing/moving boxes. At front of store near checkouts are free,

 

[AlanQ]

Why don't the supermarkets reuse the boxes their products are delivered in to deliver customer orders

because most boxes are used for display and as such not fit for purpose. Did I not recently read an article on this site that explained what certain codes on price labels mean, ie 'S' mean the product is placed on the shelf in the box it came it.

 

[AlanQ]

Here's an idea Karen, maybe contact the various organisations that operate food banks and ask if they would like your glut of paper bags for them to use to pack items for collection. Just curious as to what people would then do with the cardboard boxes if they were used to deliver stuff? Do they not end up in the same place Karen seems to think is the only place her bags can go?

 

[Stevo114]

Ho hum - just use reuseable plastic bags.

We are at a stage where it is straight out corporate panic to rid us of plastic. Reduce, of course, but there is no strategy.

In the meantime look at all the plastic still on the shelves (can't wait to see a paper Coke bottle!)

 

[AlanQ]

Ho hum - just use reuseable plastic bags.

We are at a stage where it is straight out corporate panic to rid us of plastic. Reduce, of course, but there is no strategy.

In the meantime look at all the plastic still on the shelves (can't wait to see a paper Coke bottle!)

Unless the home delivery mob is 'willing' to take back your bags how do you propose they deliver in a 'recycled' bag (that will have been used by someone else)? PS: PET bottles are recyclable unlike the plastic bag you seem to think should still be the norm. Plastic bags should have been banned decades ago. Most people on this site will be of an age that they remember paper was the only option is store and as such EVERYONE would have brought their own bag to do their shopping.

 

[PattiB]

Don’t we have bigger problems than a few paper bags? At least groceries aren’t rolling about all over the place, besides my Woolies puts a lot of fresh produce straight into the paper bags. I shop online & generally pay $2 per order for paper bags. I absolutely loathe supermarket shopping so I consider it money well spent. Who wants a heap of cardboard boxes? I recycle enough of those from my online shopping!

 

[Ricki]

Why don't the supermarkets reuse the boxes their products are delivered in to deliver customer orders

Good idea but then the customers will complain about what to do with the boxes

 

[Trouper21]

The biggest failure in this whole shopping bag saga was the 15 cents reusable plastic bag. How many times have you see the neighbour use them as garbage bags? Some people even unpack their groceries, chuck in the wrapping and empty containers in the bag and straight into the big bin. Basically, they become a single use bag and serve nothing more than the old school single use singlet bag. It all ends up as landfill, negating their original purpose!

I remember using paper bags when I was younger and getting things like sugar, flour etc in bulk and not in packaging like now. Also sold kero by the litre in bulk as well at a department store, you had to bring in your container.

 

[Jan Hamblin]

In the bid to reduce carbon footprint, online grocery shopping has become a wonderful ally. We no longer need to jump behind the wheel and burn petrol for every shopping trip. It's also a brilliant time-saver!

But it seems there's a hiccup in this dream scenario, at least for one Australian mum who has urged Woolworths and Coles to ditch the paper bags when delivering her groceries.

With two pre-school-aged children under her care, the convenience of online grocery shopping is immeasurable. For her, not only does it save precious gas money, but it also means no towing kids around aisles or dealing with supermarket tantrums, and it graciously gifts her with time–the one thing money can't buy.

But it seems Woolworths and Coles' efforts in trying to make home deliveries environmentally friendly have left her unsatisfied.

'Stop delivering my online shopping in bags. I have no use for them, and they go straight from your delivery truck into my bin,' she said.

For this mum, the problem lies in the excess of paper bags she accumulates weekly, as she ends up with a dozen or so bags every week.

View attachment 29116

One mum urged Woolworths and Coles to stop delivering her groceries in paper bags due to the excessive amount of paper bags she accumulates in a week. Image source: Freepik.

Unless you’ve found a way to reuse them, these bags just end up in the recycling bin or landfill. Paper bags are also less durable and, therefore, harder to reuse.

With her short trip from the front door to the kitchen pantry, these bags feel unnecessary. And even though they are made of recycled paper, it actually takes more energy to manufacture or recycle a paper bag.

Her stand: 'Plastic is not good, but more paper bags are not better'.

She posted her predicament on social media, asking if anyone had ideas to repurpose a glut of paper bags she'd accrued.

Suggestions included lining bins, using them for compost, and even igniting bonfires.

Australian supermarkets have started using paper bags when throwing the towel in the ring on reusable plastic bags in a bid to comply with stricter reusability measures, and pandemic restrictions necessitating contactless deliveries, all in the best interest of health and safety. But these bags did generate significant piles of waste.

In response to why the bags are still mandatory after the World Health Organisation’s announcement of the end of the global health emergency declaration due to COVID-19, a Woolworths spokesperson stated that they began to default to paper bags for deliveries to 'ensure [they] comply with the new Queensland government ban on plastic shopping bags that starts [September 1]'.

Meanwhile, a Coles representative mentioned that the bag-less option was removed during the pandemic for health and safety reasons but assured that they are 'constantly reviewing delivery options'.

Finding themselves in a similar dilemma, one savvy Coles Shopper took their excessive amount of paper bags and used them as an underlay in a raised planter, which created a barrier between the soil and the ground to prevent weeds and pests from wreaking havoc on their garden.

While another shared that they now use the supermarket paper bags for whatever needed newspapers—perhaps to wrap items or packages in.

You can read more about these brilliant solutions to the excessive amount of paper bags accumulated in this article.

Coles’ and Woolworths' efforts in moving away from plastic should definitely be applauded, but it’s clear that paper might not be the best alternative. We suggest they dig deeper, explore and find a way to deliver groceries bag-free.

For members who are similarly dissatisfied with the volume of paper bags that come with their online deliveries, we encourage you to provide feedback to your local supermarkets to raise their awareness.

Key Takeaways

• A woman has criticised Coles and Woolworths for delivering their online groceries in bags, saying they are wasteful and immediately thrown away.
• Despite COVID-19 no longer being considered a global health emergency, the supermarkets continue to deliver using bags, which the author questions.
• Coles and Woolworths suspended their bagless crate-to-bench services during the pandemic and have since switched to reusable and paper bags, however, an investigation revealed that hundreds of millions of plastic bags were being secretively stockpiled and not recycled.
• The woman argues that although paper bags may seem like a better alternative to plastic, they are less durable and take more energy to manufacture or recycle.

If you have any of those brilliant repurposing ideas, we’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments below.

Why don't they reuse the boxes the items arrive in the shop in from the manufacturer. I realise they will still probably be no more use to the householder than paper bags but at least it will cut down on the waste by only being used once and boxes hold more and are stronger for the deliveries.

 

[Trish21]

I’m curious, do theses companies charge customers for the paper bags which they deliver her groceries in?
if that’s the case, and she or others have a large collection, at 30c a pop, I can’t see much savings.

these companies have most of their items delivered in cardboard boxes, so why aren’t they providing these to customers at no cost!
My local Green grocer, Fresh and save, Dan Murphys, Golden Circle, Costco, Bottlemart, just to name a few, give away their cardboard boxes to customers at no cost.

Coles charge $1.50 for each delivery for the paper bags even if you only get 3 or 6 the price is the same which I don’t think is fair

 

[Ronloby]

I use Bunnings boxes when I shop there. AND they don't charge for them either.

 

[Lynjw]

In the bid to reduce carbon footprint, online grocery shopping has become a wonderful ally. We no longer need to jump behind the wheel and burn petrol for every shopping trip. It's also a brilliant time-saver!

But it seems there's a hiccup in this dream scenario, at least for one Australian mum who has urged Woolworths and Coles to ditch the paper bags when delivering her groceries.

With two pre-school-aged children under her care, the convenience of online grocery shopping is immeasurable. For her, not only does it save precious gas money, but it also means no towing kids around aisles or dealing with supermarket tantrums, and it graciously gifts her with time–the one thing money can't buy.

But it seems Woolworths and Coles' efforts in trying to make home deliveries environmentally friendly have left her unsatisfied.

'Stop delivering my online shopping in bags. I have no use for them, and they go straight from your delivery truck into my bin,' she said.

For this mum, the problem lies in the excess of paper bags she accumulates weekly, as she ends up with a dozen or so bags every week.

View attachment 29116

One mum urged Woolworths and Coles to stop delivering her groceries in paper bags due to the excessive amount of paper bags she accumulates in a week. Image source: Freepik.

Unless you’ve found a way to reuse them, these bags just end up in the recycling bin or landfill. Paper bags are also less durable and, therefore, harder to reuse.

With her short trip from the front door to the kitchen pantry, these bags feel unnecessary. And even though they are made of recycled paper, it actually takes more energy to manufacture or recycle a paper bag.

Her stand: 'Plastic is not good, but more paper bags are not better'.

She posted her predicament on social media, asking if anyone had ideas to repurpose a glut of paper bags she'd accrued.

Suggestions included lining bins, using them for compost, and even igniting bonfires.

Australian supermarkets have started using paper bags when throwing the towel in the ring on reusable plastic bags in a bid to comply with stricter reusability measures, and pandemic restrictions necessitating contactless deliveries, all in the best interest of health and safety. But these bags did generate significant piles of waste.

In response to why the bags are still mandatory after the World Health Organisation’s announcement of the end of the global health emergency declaration due to COVID-19, a Woolworths spokesperson stated that they began to default to paper bags for deliveries to 'ensure [they] comply with the new Queensland government ban on plastic shopping bags that starts [September 1]'.

Meanwhile, a Coles representative mentioned that the bag-less option was removed during the pandemic for health and safety reasons but assured that they are 'constantly reviewing delivery options'.

Finding themselves in a similar dilemma, one savvy Coles Shopper took their excessive amount of paper bags and used them as an underlay in a raised planter, which created a barrier between the soil and the ground to prevent weeds and pests from wreaking havoc on their garden.

While another shared that they now use the supermarket paper bags for whatever needed newspapers—perhaps to wrap items or packages in.

You can read more about these brilliant solutions to the excessive amount of paper bags accumulated in this article.

Coles’ and Woolworths' efforts in moving away from plastic should definitely be applauded, but it’s clear that paper might not be the best alternative. We suggest they dig deeper, explore and find a way to deliver groceries bag-free.

For members who are similarly dissatisfied with the volume of paper bags that come with their online deliveries, we encourage you to provide feedback to your local supermarkets to raise their awareness.

Key Takeaways

• A woman has criticised Coles and Woolworths for delivering their online groceries in bags, saying they are wasteful and immediately thrown away.
• Despite COVID-19 no longer being considered a global health emergency, the supermarkets continue to deliver using bags, which the author questions.
• Coles and Woolworths suspended their bagless crate-to-bench services during the pandemic and have since switched to reusable and paper bags, however, an investigation revealed that hundreds of millions of plastic bags were being secretively stockpiled and not recycled.
• The woman argues that although paper bags may seem like a better alternative to plastic, they are less durable and take more energy to manufacture or recycle.

If you have any of those brilliant repurposing ideas, we’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments below.

The stores should allow u to return them to be recycled again

 

[Go Cats]

NO,NO,

In the bid to reduce carbon footprint, online grocery shopping has become a wonderful ally. We no longer need to jump behind the wheel and burn petrol for every shopping trip. It's also a brilliant time-saver!

But it seems there's a hiccup in this dream scenario, at least for one Australian mum who has urged Woolworths and Coles to ditch the paper bags when delivering her groceries.

With two pre-school-aged children under her care, the convenience of online grocery shopping is immeasurable. For her, not only does it save precious gas money, but it also means no towing kids around aisles or dealing with supermarket tantrums, and it graciously gifts her with time–the one thing money can't buy.

But it seems Woolworths and Coles' efforts in trying to make home deliveries environmentally friendly have left her unsatisfied.

'Stop delivering my online shopping in bags. I have no use for them, and they go straight from your delivery truck into my bin,' she said.

For this mum, the problem lies in the excess of paper bags she accumulates weekly, as she ends up with a dozen or so bags every week.

View attachment 29116

One mum urged Woolworths and Coles to stop delivering her groceries in paper bags due to the excessive amount of paper bags she accumulates in a week. Image source: Freepik.

Unless you’ve found a way to reuse them, these bags just end up in the recycling bin or landfill. Paper bags are also less durable and, therefore, harder to reuse.

With her short trip from the front door to the kitchen pantry, these bags feel unnecessary. And even though they are made of recycled paper, it actually takes more energy to manufacture or recycle a paper bag.

Her stand: 'Plastic is not good, but more paper bags are not better'.

She posted her predicament on social media, asking if anyone had ideas to repurpose a glut of paper bags she'd accrued.

Suggestions included lining bins, using them for compost, and even igniting bonfires.

Australian supermarkets have started using paper bags when throwing the towel in the ring on reusable plastic bags in a bid to comply with stricter reusability measures, and pandemic restrictions necessitating contactless deliveries, all in the best interest of health and safety. But these bags did generate significant piles of waste.

In response to why the bags are still mandatory after the World Health Organisation’s announcement of the end of the global health emergency declaration due to COVID-19, a Woolworths spokesperson stated that they began to default to paper bags for deliveries to 'ensure [they] comply with the new Queensland government ban on plastic shopping bags that starts [September 1]'.

Meanwhile, a Coles representative mentioned that the bag-less option was removed during the pandemic for health and safety reasons but assured that they are 'constantly reviewing delivery options'.

Finding themselves in a similar dilemma, one savvy Coles Shopper took their excessive amount of paper bags and used them as an underlay in a raised planter, which created a barrier between the soil and the ground to prevent weeds and pests from wreaking havoc on their garden.

While another shared that they now use the supermarket paper bags for whatever needed newspapers—perhaps to wrap items or packages in.

You can read more about these brilliant solutions to the excessive amount of paper bags accumulated in this article.

Coles’ and Woolworths' efforts in moving away from plastic should definitely be applauded, but it’s clear that paper might not be the best alternative. We suggest they dig deeper, explore and find a way to deliver groceries bag-free.

For members who are similarly dissatisfied with the volume of paper bags that come with their online deliveries, we encourage you to provide feedback to your local supermarkets to raise their awareness.

Key Takeaways

• A woman has criticised Coles and Woolworths for delivering their online groceries in bags, saying they are wasteful and immediately thrown away.
• Despite COVID-19 no longer being considered a global health emergency, the supermarkets continue to deliver using bags, which the author questions.
• Coles and Woolworths suspended their bagless crate-to-bench services during the pandemic and have since switched to reusable and paper bags, however, an investigation revealed that hundreds of millions of plastic bags were being secretively stockpiled and not recycled.
• The woman argues that although paper bags may seem like a better alternative to plastic, they are less durable and take more energy to manufacture or recycle.

If you have any of those brilliant repurposing ideas, we’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments below.

NO,NO,NO to using the paper bags too "ignite bonfires" as one person suggested.Seriously,what century are you living in.???? With the out of control fires that are happening/happened in different countries around the world and the chance of Australia being in for an extreme summer this year and the chance of bushfires are very,very high. So,please don't suggest that paper bags be disposed of in that way.

 

[Veggiepatch]

In the meantime look at all the plastic still on the shelves (can't wait to see a paper Coke bottle!)

Or an all electric passenger plane....

 

[Leenie]

I remember when our grocer used to deliver our order in boxes. Unpack them onto the table & take box with them. And that was for a family of 6.

Those days are gone . I also remember you could buy loose biscuits and the grocer would punt them in. Brown paper bags.

 

[wendell]

Of course before Covid they offered the best service which was crate to bench Delivery person wheeled crates on trolley emptied to your bench No bags easy as pie