Woolworths’ sneaky new charge angers Aussies

Woolworths will start charging customers up to $1.20 for mesh bags to use when purchasing fruits and vegetables instead of giving away free plastic bags.

Previously, Woolworths provided plastic bags for customers to use for their produce. However, to reduce plastic waste, they are encouraging customers to bring in their own reusable bags for fruit and veg, or pay for mesh bags instead.

A shopper at Woolworths was outraged when they noticed the new charge for the bags, and shared a photo showing the new charge to reddit..

The photo was taken in Western Australia, where Woolworths is currently trialling a single-use plastic bag ban in some stores by selling a three-pack of reusable mesh bags for 30c, discounted from the usual price of $3.50.

The supermarket giant has already banned single-use plastic bags for produce in South Australia.

‘What the f**k is this bulls**t,’ the author captioned the photo shared on Reddit.

Many Aussies were not impressed with the new charge, with one saying: ‘This is where their next billion profit is made.

Another added: ‘There’s zero chance I’m paying for that.

Some mocked the hypocrisy of Woolworths’ move to go plastic-free in the wake of its move to remove plastic single use shopping bags nationwide.

‘Have they also removed hard-plastic cases for 100g of pre-chopped onions which used 10000x the amount of plastic?’ another said.

But others couldn’t understand what the fuss was about.

‘Go buy a pack of freezer bags for 80c and use them. Plus you get the remaining freezer bags as a bonus,’ one commented.

‘Time for you to put on your big boy pants and put up with mild inconveniences for the sake of the planet.’

‘Use a mesh bags, reuse old bags, or better yet, grow the f**k up and don’t use a bag every time you want an apple. It’s really not that hard. This isn’t about Woolworths’ profits.

In April 2022, South Australia became the first state where Woolworths introduced compostable fruit and vegetable bags.

The switch has the potential to divert up to 70 tonnes of plastic waste from landfill each year and was branded as a major breakthrough in sustainable shopping.

Western Australian will follow suit in March next year. 

In a statement, Woolworths said it is currently undergoing a six week trial across 12 stores to test different bagging options.

‘Customers shopping in a trial store can choose to go bagless with their fruit and veg purchase or bring their own reusable bag. We will also be offering reusable mesh bags,’ a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

‘As the trial kicks off, we are offering all of our customers shopping in the selected trial stores a 3-pack of Woolworths reusable mesh bags for 30 cents. These bags can be used again and again.

‘We understand this will be an adjustment for customers and we’d like to thank our customers for helping us to prepare for the WA Government’s upcoming ban on single use fruit and veg bags.’

The new charge comes just days after the supermarket giant announced it had made a $1.62 billion full-year profit after tax, up 4.6 per cent from the prior year, a result basically in line with expectations.

Revenue increased 5.7 per cent to $64.3 billion for the 52 weeks ended June 25, compared to the 52 weeks prior.