Two supermarkets delivered groceries on the same day. The volume of plastic was vastly different

November 5, 2026 — 3:59pm

Woolworths has pulled ahead of Coles in reducing plastic waste, with one exception – it remains addicted to the pester power of Ooshies.

Woolworths is using far fewer plastic produce bags for online shopping orders than Coles and less plastic behind the scenes in its supply chain, and is also more transparent about the plastic in its home-brand product range, a national report by the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has found.

The difference is noticeable to consumers. Emily Hamilton, 38, from Preston in Melbourne, says she used to be the type of shopper who went to the store with cloth bags for loose vegetables such as green beans and refilled containers of bulk items at the health food store.

Now, with an 18-month-old daughter and a part-time job, she relies on the convenience of home delivery.

“Usually, Woolworths is OK, but Coles on the other hand are just so bad – everything comes in plastic bags, and this order was the same sort of thing,” Hamilton said.

“I’ve had them put one garlic bulb in a plastic bag, or I’ll get four onions and three would be in one bag and one in another. One time, I got a cabbage that was wrapped in plastic and also in a plastic bag. It’s pretty wild. That only happens at Coles, so I just don’t buy from them usually because it’s consistently what happens.”

Both major supermarkets use paper shopping bags – the difference is in the individual bags for loose produce. Across 80 test orders nationwide, AMCS found that 95 per cent of Coles deliveries had at least one plastic produce bag versus 8 per cent for Woolworths, and 73 per cent of items were individually bagged versus 0.3 per cent.

The other two companies in the report – Aldi and independent wholesale supplier Metcash – do not offer home delivery.

“We know single-use plastic remains a customer concern, and we have listened to this feedback by implementing a range of sustainability initiatives,” a Woolworths spokesman said.

A Coles spokesperson said the company was committed to removing unnecessary plastic across stores and online, as well as making it easier to recycle, and had eliminated more than 700 million pieces of conventional plastic from its Coles Own Brand range since 2021.

“At the same time, we recognise the crucial role packaging plays in delivering convenience, protecting fresh produce during transport, maintaining food safety and hygiene, extending shelf life, and ultimately helping to reduce food waste,” the spokesperson said.

For the first time this year, Woolworths revealed how much plastic it used for packaging across its home-brand product range – 10 grams per unit sold, for a “plastic intensity score” of 10 – and has committed to updating this data annually. The Australian Marine Conservation Society report said the other three supermarkets had “fragmented” reporting on plastic use.

Woolworths, Coles and Aldi were all criticised for charging more for loose produce than packaged formats.

Tara Jones, program manager, plastics and packaging at AMCS, said supermarkets should sell loose as much as possible and make it the same price or cheaper than the packaged version.

“Particularly in a cost of living crisis, shoppers shouldn’t be penalised financially for buying only what they need or trying to avoid unnecessary plastic packaging,” Jones said.

Celeste Hankins, 38, from Ashfield in Sydney, feels “honestly very guilty” when she buys packaged food, so she usually shops for fresh fruit and vegetables at Harris Farm.

Occasionally, she does a big supermarket shop for pantry staples, usually at Woolworths because she likes the layout of the local store and the range of Asian ingredients. Hankins is three weeks away from giving birth to her third child, so the grocery shopping has shifted online recently.

(She will use the paper bags from the online delivery as a receptacle for recycling her subscription copies of The Sydney Morning Herald. Hamilton in Melbourne uses the bags in the garden as a layer under mulch).

Hankins says her older children, aged eight and 11, learn about environmental sustainability at school, and she tries to model good choices at home. She worries about the amount of plastic in the environment, especially microplastics in the water and the impact on human health.

“For my kids, I pack their lunch in stainless steel, and I don’t put a lot of packaging in their lunch, but obviously, you’ve got to balance those things with time and practicality too.

“It would be nice if the system was conducive to making some of those choices a little more convenient or easy for you.”

The AMCS commended Coles for its stance against plastic toy giveaways, which has been in place since 2021. This is in contrast to Woolworths, which this year revived Ooshies – small, squishy, collectible plastic toys that double as pencil toppers – as giveaways at the checkout after previously running the promotions in 2019 and 2020.

The Disney Ooshies promotion finished in August. Woolworths said the toys were now made of 97 per cent recycled plastic and came wrapped in Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper, and the chain ran dedicated collection bins at all stores for two months afterwards.

Jones praised Coles for “sparing families from bringing home pockets full of plastic junk”.

“We really urge Woolworths to follow its lead – we know that the best way to end plastic pollution is to use less plastic,” she said.

Hamilton in Melbourne says her daughter is too young for Ooshies, but her niece and nephew love them. She usually ticks the box not to get them, but has found they sometimes get delivered randomly when she orders nappies.

Hankins from Sydney initially rejected the giveaways, thinking her older children would have outgrown them. Then they came home from school saying that all the kids were playing with them, so she relented, not wanting them to be left out.

“I was actually quite astounded that a bunch of 12-year-olds would be interested in that still,” she said. “It was funny because my older son was self-aware enough to actually say to me, ‘Mum, I think this time they’re made from recycled plastic.’”

The Coles spokesperson said the chain publicly reported its progress on packaging recyclability, recycled content and problematic plastics, and its reporting would “continue to evolve”. The company supported a nationally consistent approach to packaging regulation.

A Metcash spokesperson said the company reported annually on plastic use and packaging, and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation’s latest assessment granted it an advanced performance rating.

An Aldi spokesperson said the chain regularly reported on its progress on sustainability goals, and its latest report showed that by the end of 2025, nearly 92 per cent of Aldi’s exclusive brand packaging was recyclable or compostable.

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Caitlin Fitzsimmons is the environment and climate reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. She was previously the social affairs reporter and the Money editor.Connect via email.

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