A Bendigo woman is winning praise for her waste-cutting approach to grocery shopping, asking supermarket deli workers to pack her purchases into reusable containers – not one-use plastic bags.
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But the supermarket chain’s head office remains undecided about the environmental strategy.
Catelyn Pryor first wrote on Facebook in November about how staff at Woolworths in the Bendigo Marketplace agreed to sell her sundried tomatoes and salami in the containers she brought from home.
The post has since been shared more than 2000 times and garnered 27,000 reactions.
A Woolworths spokesperson then responded to Ms Pryor’s post, explaining it was not their stores’ policy to fill containers brought in by customers.
Read more: Bendigo lags in recycling know-how
“We're always looking for ways to improve our customers shopping experience and reduce our environmental footprint,” the spokesperson wrote.
“Due to a number of reasons, this isn't something we're offering in our stores at the moment and we'll be sharing this with our Deli Team to take into consideration and look into making available in the future!”
The Bendigo Advertiser understands those problems are related to food safety, as well as the capacity of Woolworths scales to accommodate the weight of containers.
Ms Pryor, from Strathdale, said she was disappointed with the decision, believing her no-plastic approach could cut down on unnecessary pollution.
“If somewhere like Woolworths could do it, then it would make a big difference to the environment,” she said.
But other stores were more welcoming, she said, with Bendigo butcher shops happy to hand over meat in the containers that Ms Pryor provided.
Read more: Kids master the art of recycling
The bakery she visited also agreed to use the bags she brought along.
Ms Pryor and her partner, Rhys Bull, made a conscious decision two years ago to begin cutting down on the waste they created.
It started with the pair taking soft plastic rubbish to the supermarkets, which offer recycling bins to properly dispose of the material.
She now runs Facebook page Bendigo Zero Waste, sharing their eco-friendly life hacks online.
Cutting down on plastic use did take time and effort – you cannot stop by the supermarket if you don’t have your own bags with you – but it was a strategy that caught people’s attention when Ms Pryor went shopping.
“I would say everytime we do, there's someone looking at us thinking, 'that looks interesting'.”
Mark Kearney
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
