Supermarkets charge more for loose fruit and vegetables
Stores’ pricing policies actively discourage shoppers from ditching plastic-packaged products
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LOOSE fruit and vegetables are often more expensive than those sold in plastic packaging, a Sunday Telegraph survey of supermarkets has found.
Environmental campaigners have accused supermarkets of discouraging shoppers from saving the planet by making it more expensive to avoid products wrapped in plastic.
Sainsbury’s was found to be charging 17p each for braeburn apples in plastic packs of six, while lose apples were 28p each. Tesco braeburn apples were 44p each loose, but work out at 32p each in a plastic pack of five. Waitrose essential tomatoes were 19p each, but bought in a plastic pack of six they were 12p each.
Waitrose has started a trial that allows customers to fill up their own containers with products ranging from pasta and wine to washing up liquid.
Last week Sainsbury’s became the first UK supermarket to remove plastic bags for its loose fruit, vegetables and bakery items and replace them with paper bags across all its stores.
However, green campaigners have called on supermarkets to make loose items cheaper to encourage customers to reduce the use of plastic.
When asked to explain the price difference, the supermarkets referred The Telegraph to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
A BRC spokesman explained that it can be cheaper to produce and easier to transport packaged items. They said: “Packaged fruit and vegetables can sometimes be cheaper because products are bought in bulk and there’s less handling and waste involved.”
Tesco is trialling removing plastic from two of its stores and said pricing depends on many factors, adding that loose fruit and veg is not always more expensive than packaged.
A Waitrose spokesman said: “We’re testing an initiative at our Botley Road shop in Oxford with the aim of encouraging customers to buy more loose fruit and veg. It has huge potential to shape how people shop in the future.”
However, Ariana Densham, ocean plastics campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “It is very concerning if supermarkets are actively dissuading consumers from choosing the plasticfree option on the basis of cost.
“It does not take into consideration the longer term cost to our environment, wildlife and human health; and given that we don’t have the facilities to recycle all of this needless waste domestically, much of it is left in our rivers and oceans causing untold harm.”
She has called on the Government to take action, saying: “It is in a position to disincentivise companies from producing and using single-use plastic in the first place, by setting ambitious reduction targets and by establishing an independent watchdog.”
A Defra spokesman said: “Supermarkets have a clear responsibility to cut unnecessary packaging, reduce waste going to landfill and increase the amount being recycled and recovered.
“We are encouraging retailers to be more transparent about their efforts to reduce waste and to introduce plasticfree supermarket aisles. This will give consumers the choice to make greener decisions and will help promote the use of less damaging plastic packaging.”
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