Coop plastic use is a disgrace - we have to stop buying it! (Debate)

Fri 23 Aug 2019, 16:27

So your saying the staff in the co op are not helpful. If you asked for a box I’m sure they would find you one. Do Londis do free from food organic fruit and veg. Bags that you can use for compost. All different kinds of milk from organic to goats milk to almond milk. Fresh Bread baked daily a post office open 7 days a week till 9.30pm every night. Also the staff at the coop do voluntary work around Charlbury picking up rubbish around the town. I mean if you want to goto chippy coop because it’s greener then that’s fine but then your using fuel to get there and isn’t that pollution.  

Fri 23 Aug 2019, 16:24

Phil,

Happy to.

Good points.  Thank you.

Fri 23 Aug 2019, 16:21

Hmmm, well, Hannen, I'm not sure we are comparing like with like. Londis, the Deli and the Curiosities are a pleasure because they are leisurely with a customer rate of 1, 2 or 3 at a time. Our Coop can have 20/30 customers at a time. 

While the customers are emptying the shelves at a rate of knots, the staff are frantically trying to replenish them. It's like dodgems sometimes! Sealed packaging is the quickest and most efficient way of achieving this at the moment. It is all about volume of trade. Lorry to shelf is a big logistical problem and efficient packaging saves time.                That was all I was saying. 

Hopefully, our Coop can improve its recycling values soon but, until then, can we show a little understanding?   

Fri 23 Aug 2019, 13:22

Well said Lesley.

Phil,  Londis have loads of loose veg and fruit and John and Brian are so helpful.

If I have understood your argument correctly then it follows that every single "small" convenience store in the country, must use plastic wrapping.  Is that what you are saying?

That's certainly not my experience.  What about our beloved Deli, or "The Curiosities"? 

They get by without plastic packaging.

Fri 23 Aug 2019, 12:53

Why can't we have paper bags, or if you forget your bag ask for a cardboard box. I am sure the co op has lots of small boxes left from their deliveries. They used to keep boxes near the door.

Thu 22 Aug 2019, 10:10

I agree with Phil that you are being to harsh on the Co-op Miles.

The stated aim of Midlands Co-op is 

We are working with other retail co-operatives to ensure that by 2023:. All our own-brand packaging will be easy to recycle.  We will eliminate single-use own-brand plastic products and packaging.

To see their campaign on this look at this site

https://www.midcounties.coop/our-values/responsible-retailing/tackling-single-use-plastics/

There is a link where you can make your 'pledge' towards this aim which would be more effective than dropping plastic on the floor!

Wed 21 Aug 2019, 20:09

Went into Waitrose a few weeks ago and loose vegetables were more expensive than the plastic trayed items. Even the dishwasher tablets were individually wrapped in plastic, why? 

Wed 21 Aug 2019, 16:17

With regard to the membership vouchers, they always used to have a 'use-by' date, so i'm guessing that there just re-introducing that.

Normally with these type of initiatives, they start in the bigger stores and work there way down to the smaller store.  Chipping Norton Store is still part of the same COOP group (unlike the one in Witney town centre.)

I think it might just take some time for it to be rolled out to all stores, if it does help, from memory a copy of what ever is written in the 'compliments / complaints book' in store, that any customer can write in does get sent to the Head Office for review.

Wed 21 Aug 2019, 15:14

In the past the membership benefits have taken the form of money off vouchers with no expiry date and no minimum spend. The most recent set were a voucher for a small discount when you spend £20 or more and an expiry date of about a week. That's quite disappointing. I'm sure they could manage to use recyclable packaging too. Having said all that, I think co-op in Chippy is great - lots of locally sourced veg, and lots of it with no packaging.

Tue 20 Aug 2019, 17:09

Phil, I'm pretty sure the people who work at the Coop are not deciding which products to buy! They are a great bunch who have always been professional, polite and hard working. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything here? 

I dont know anything about retail, so happy to be corrected, but are you saying it is not possible to run a small store using any recyclable material? 

Simon - I'll see you soon.

Tue 20 Aug 2019, 14:05

Buy your bacon from the Curiosities Company.. 

Still I believe the only pre-packed bacon available in 100% home compostable packaging...

I just happen to have 6 packs of unsold Black Pepper and Bay available at the knock down price of £5 a pack as the sell by date is 23rd August... Call at the shop for collection.

Tue 20 Aug 2019, 12:48

Take the plastic off and leave it on the floor in the store.

This has proved to be quite effective in the past.

Tue 20 Aug 2019, 12:33

I think you are being more than a little harsh here Miles. As a long-standing member of the cooperative movement, I am proud of its policies on many things: community contribution, employees' rights and, indeed, sustainability.

Please remember that the Charlbury Coop is classed as a "convenience store". With deliveries coming in every other day into a building with very limited storage, the time-limited foodstuffs have to move very quickly onto the shelves. This is why we see the staff working so hard every day to keep up with public demand.

Handling the volume between pallet and shelf is why it has to be packaged as it is. The store doesn't have the capacity to offer much more. The staff are amazingly cheerful given the pressure they are under. 

I do hope that everyone realises that the Coop, by its very nature, is a not-for-profit business - it has to make a profit to fund its development but there are no shareholders taking a dividend. Any residual profit is returned to its members in benefits.

Tue 20 Aug 2019, 10:41

The coop appears to have almost nothing that is not wrapped in none-recyclable plastic. Have they deliberately done this, presumably to increase profit? 

I seams odd when most other businesses are at least trying to reduce. Even the Chippy Coop is getting better. Yet our shop appears to be going out of it's way to be as environmentally unfriendly as possible. 

The only way they will stop is if we stop buying it. I am no longer buying anything there in hard, none-recyclable plastic.