Oh Tesco, why do you make it so difficult to shop online plastic-free

We shop online with Tesco, we have done for many, many years. At the beginning of the year when we started trying to reduce the amount of single-use plastic we were using we reduced the amount of food we were buying from Tesco and shopped elsewhere for certain things (e.g. meat). I need the convenience of a grocery delivery once a week but Tesco are making it so hard to do this plastic-free.

We opt to having our shopping delivered without bags and have done ever since this option was available. Since we have stopped buying meat and fish from Tesco we no longer get the red plastic bags that the pickers seemed to like to wrap these products in.

However, the main problem is the kind of bag that is used for the loose fruit and vegetables that we buy. Tesco do have large paper bags available so it is technically possible to put all of the fruit and vegetables that we order in a couple of these bags. Yet, this does not happen very consistently despite me writing specific instructions in the ‘comments to picker’ section for each loose item. Sometimes we get all of the fruit and vegetables in small plastic produce bags and today’s particular gem was all the fruit and vegetables in the small plastic produce bags and then put inside a paper bag – what a ridiculous waste!

Every time we get the plastic produce bags I phone up and complain. I’m hoping that if I complain enough things will change. The response I get is variable. I’ve had people tell me that the fruit and vegetables need to be in plastic bags for hygiene reasons! Really!! What about things like bananas and onions that conveniently come with their own hygiene protection? My complaints are noted by the call centre staff in Scotland and they promise to try and get someone from the store to call me but this doesn’t always happen. When I speak to managers at the store they understand my complaint and say they will look into it but it seems to be down to individual pickers and whether they read the instructions that I write.

I’m seriously considering giving up having my groceries delivered but I just don’t know where I’m going to find the time to physically go to the supermarket as well as the other shops we need to go to for things such as meat and loose dried goods. Perhaps I need to experiment with online shopping once a fortnight without any fruit and vegetables and try and fit in trips to the greengrocers a couple of times a week.

I’m not sure what I really expected from a supermarket like Tesco where plastic is everywhere. What I’m most frustrated about is the inconsistency and lack of a proper resolution from the people who work there.