Plastic reduction by grocery stores moving too slowly, Greenpeace says
Group’s latest report scolds even those near the top of its rankings
Six Southern California supermarkets ranked high for their efforts to eliminate single-use plastics but still aren’t doing nearly enough, according to a new report by Greenpeace released today.
ALDI came in second on the list of 20 of the country’s largest groceries surveyed by the environmental group, followed by Sprouts, Kroger, which owns Ralphs and Food 4 Less, Albertsons, Costco and Walmart.
But ALDI received just 31 points out of 100 possible on the scorecard, and Greenpeace found little to praise even for its No. 2 pick.
“U.S. retailers are moving at a snail’s pace on plastic reduction efforts,” said John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign director. “There is not a single place that individuals are confronted with more single-use plastic than in our grocery stores, yet these companies continue to drag their feet and offer excuses.”
Worldwide, less than 10% of plastics are recycled. With China and other countries largely shutting down the import of recyclables, plastics are increasingly ending up in California landfills as well as washing into storm drains that then empty in the ocean. Plastic packaging wrap, in particular, is rarely if ever recycled.
But despite Greenpeace’s scolding that not enough is being done, its report does provide evidence of modest progress in reducing plastic use.
In 2019, ALDI topped the list as having the best performance. That’s largely because it led the pack in establishing 2025 goals of reducing packaging of instore brands by 15% and making 100% of all ALDI packaging “reusable, recyclable or compostable.”
But now, Greenpeace instead praises ALDI UK and ALDI Ireland, which have declared a 2025 goal of reducing that packaging by 50%. And it praises Giant Eagle, an East Coast and Midwest chain that tops this year’s ranking and has vowed to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2025.
“Every piece of plastic that comes through a grocery store ends up polluting our environment, harming our health, accelerating climate change and impacting communities on the front lines of this crisis,” Hocevar said. “We need to see retailers acting now to dramatically reduce their plastic footprints and move from single use-packaging to reuse and package-free approaches.”
To come up with its ranking, Greenpeace used a survey, email, phone conversations and publicly available information. Groceries were graded on policy, reduction, initiatives and transparency.
Stores respond
WinCo Foods, which has just 15 stores in Southern California, was the lowest-scoring chain in the region, ranking 19th. Whole Foods ranked 10th, Target ranked 12th and Trader Joe’s fell from fourth in the 2019 survey to 13th this year.
“While Trader
Joe’s eliminated nearly 6 million pounds of plastics in 2019 and more than 2 million pounds in 2020, unfortunately it appears to be relying heavily on material substitution instead of absolute reduction of packaging units,” the report said. “Like ALDI, Trader Joe’s sells nearly all own-brand items and is squandering a unique opportunity to engage with its suppliers over packaging reductions.”
The chains were not privy to the report in advance of its official release early today. But informed that all Southern California chains were being criticized by Greenpeace, Whole Foods and Walmart responded by pointing to progress they’d made.
Whole Foods noted that in 2019 it became “the first national retailer to remove all plastic straws from our cafes and coffee bars.” The email said it has also shifted to smaller plastic “pull bags” for produce and has eliminated polystyrene meat trays.
“Today, around 55% of our private-brand packaging is recyclable, reusable or industrially compostable based on supplier reports, putting us well in reach of our goal of 100% by 2025,” said Anna Vinogradova, Walmart’s director of sustainability.
But Greenpeace, which in a lawsuit alleged Walmart’s recyclability labels on plastic products and packaging are deceptive, complains that supermarkets are overstating their efforts in what is becoming known as “greenwashing.”
“We have seen more greenwashing than action,” Hocevar said. “It is time to turn this around. Customers want better options than retailers are giving them.”