- Plastic pollution is killing marine life, yet not one of Australia's major supermarkets has set a target to cut plastic use
- Woolworths first of the big two supermarkets to disclose its plastic packaging use on own-brand products - which make up one third of supermarket sales
- Woolworths ditching plastic produce bags in home deliveries, with just 8% orders containing plastic bags; Coles packed 95% of orders with needless plastic bags
- Coles maintains stand on avoiding plastic toys giveaways despite Ooshies onslaught
- Supermarkets still charging more for loose fruit and veg than pre-packaged produce - loose oranges cost 56% more; potatoes and carrots 29% more, and onions 34%
Woolworths has pulled ahead of its competitors on addressing plastic waste, but not one of Australia's supermarket chains has committed to cutting the total amount of plastic it puts on its shelves, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society's fourth Unwrapped audit of plastic use in Australian supermarkets.
Woolworths became the first of the big two supermarkets to come clean on its own plastic packaging use, and is cutting out needless plastic in the growing sector of home deliveries. Coles has maintained its strong stance on not using plastic toy giveaways despite the Ooshies onslaught.
The audit judged the four major supermarket chains against eight plastic reduction benchmarks. Woolworths topped the audit with four "good" ratings followed by Coles with two. Aldi and Metcash, which supplies IGA and Foodland stores, failed to score "good" ratings in any of the criteria.
Woolworths has publicly reported its own plastic packaging use for 2025-26, disclosing the average weight of plastic packaging of its own-brand products - the "plastics intensity score" of 10 grams per product. Woolworth has committed to updating the plastics intensity score annually, which is increasingly important as own-brand products now make up one third of supermarket sales. Aldi had been the only supermarket to have revealed its plastic intensity score - once, in 2019. Aldi topped the inaugural Unwrapped audit in 2023, but it has failed to maintain its once-transparent reporting.
Woolworths is actively cutting needless plastic on its growing home delivery orders, which was borne out by 80 orders placed by audit volunteers. Just 8% of Woolworths orders arrived with loose produce bagged in needless plastic, compared with 95% of Coles orders. Woolworths and Metcash provided data to show progress on reducing single-use packaging in their supply chains.
Coles has kept ahead of its biggest rival on plastic toy promotional giveaways. In 2021 Coles committed to stop giving away plastic collectable toys, a move that has kept countless plastic toys out of Australian homes, landfills, and ultimately out of our environment.
Disappointingly, supermarkets are still charging shoppers more for loose fruit and vegetables, which could push shoppers towards pre-packaged produce and fuel plastic pollution. The audit revealed that loose fruit and vegetables cost more per kilogram than pre-packaged produce in 65% of cases on average (Woolworths 62%, Coles 71%.) Aldi had the lowest price difference (60%), but its customers have fewer plastic-free options, with 20% of staples only available pre-packaged.
AMCS Plastics and Packaging Program Manager Tara Jones said: "Plastic pollution is an environmental crisis, polluting our ocean and waterways, killing marine life and even impacting human health. Research shows that plastic pollution increases with plastic production, so the most effective solution is to cut plastic use. Plastic that is never made can never pollute the ocean.
"Plastic packaging is one of the biggest sources of litter in Australia, and our biggest supermarkets are a major contributor, with Woolworths and Coles making Sea Bin's list of the top-10 brands polluting Sydney Harbour.
"The fourth AMCS Unwrapped plastics audit shows Woolworths is pulling ahead of its competitors to address the plastics crisis, but there's still plenty more to do. Not one of the supermarkets has set a target to reduce overall plastic use, but polling shows customers want less plastic packaging and are willing to reward supermarkets that use less.
"Woolworths became the first of the big two supermarkets to come clean on its own plastic packaging use, revealing it uses 10 grams of plastic per own-brand product sold. We will now be watching Woolworths' progress in bringing that number down.
"Woolworths has also been instructing its order packing staff to avoid needless plastic on delivery orders, which now accounts for about 15% of the major supermarkets' sales. About 95% of Coles online orders arrived with needless plastic produce bags, compared with just 8% of Woolworths orders..
"Coles uses a ridiculous amount of plastic to pack orders. We regularly saw a single bulb of garlic packed in its own plastic produce bag, and orders of two or three pieces of fruit or vegetables packed into TWO produce bags.
"Coles however continues to make a strong stand by not using plastic toys as promotional giveaways. While Woolworths handed out plastic Ooshies at the checkout, Coles has spared families from bringing home pocketfuls of plastic junk. Woolworths should follow its lead.
"It's incredibly disappointing that the supermarkets are still charging more for loose fruit and vegetables than pre-packaged produce for the fourth year in a row. On average, loose oranges cost 56% more than the pre-packaged version; potatoes and carrots about 30% more and onions 34%.
"Shoppers should not be penalised for buying in smaller quantities, avoiding plastic and trying to reduce food waste, especially when more families are struggling to put food on the table. We know that supermarkets can sell loose fruit and vegetables cheaper than bagged produce - loose mushrooms and tomatoes cost less than packaged versions.
"Supermarkets often get a bad wrap, but they have a fantastic opportunity here. By dropping the price of loose fruit and vegetables to match or beat the packaged products, supermarkets could help struggling families in a cost-of-living crisis, and they would use less plastic. That's a win-win situation. Less plastic means less pollution in our environment and ocean. The first supermarket to commit to plastic reductions will lead the industry."
SIX Campaigns Manager Phoebe Rountree said: "Supermarket shareholders are increasingly concerned about the risk that plastic pollution poses to their company. The true cost of plastic is at least 10 times the market price, paid in damage to our environment, waste clean up, illness and disease, and climate change. SIX and AMCS have been raising this key issue inside the Coles and Woolworths annual general meetings. Our message is clear. Australia's major supermarkets need to stop fuelling plastic pollution, and soon."
