Supermarket packaging tricks ‘adding to plastic waste’
SUPERMARKET packaging that is vastly out of proportion to the food it contains is contributing to plastic waste, experts have said.
Tesco was criticised yesterday for selling packs of fish and ribs containing smaller amounts than their much larger plastic packaging suggested.
James Cleverly, Conservative MP for Braintree, shared a picture of a wrapped rack of ribs with a label running down the middle, along with another picture with the label removed, revealing a large gap under it between two smaller pieces of meat.
This prompted another Twitter user to share similar “with and without the label” pictures of a Tesco fish pack, showing that the label was not concealing a section of fish as expected, but rather an empty space.
Nick Harrison, retail partner at Oliver Wyman, a retail consultant, said: “I’d be surprised if this was deliberate but clearly they could be using less packaging. Plastic and packaging waste is a material issue that supermarkets are thinking about seriously now.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “The price and weight of a product are always clearly labelled on the packaging. With this product, due to the thickness of the ribs, there needs to be a gap between each piece to ensure that a proper seal occurs to guarantee freshness and quality. However, we have contacted our supplier and will review the approach, including placing the label on the left in the future.”
It comes after it was revealed that Pret’s avocado and herb salad wrap appears to be 9.4in (24cm) long – the length of the wrapping. But when the cardboard is removed, there is a 1.5in (4cm) gap between two wraps, meaning it is smaller than it first appears.
More than 2,500 products have shrunk in size in the past five years despite being sold for the same price, data shows. According to the Office for National Statistics, items hit by the “shrinkflation” effect include chocolate, toilet roll, coffee and fruit juice.