Brits ‘fume’ over grocery store plastic and ‘straightforward peel’ fruit packaging

Brits have aired their frustrations over supermarket packaging nightmares, with ‘easy peel’ corners that are anything but topping the list of woes.

The survey of 2,000 adults also revealed that over-packaged fruit and veg, non-recyclable materials, and rogue ring pulls are causing major irritation at the tills.

A staggering 30% of shoppers can’t bear the sight of fruit or veggies swathed in plastic, with a quarter admitting they’ve skipped buying an item due to its excessive wrapping. Another 28% are irked by items they cant recycle after use.

Chiming in on the issue, a rep from DS Smith the brains behind the research pointed out: “Packaging is there to look after what’s inside – no-one wants to be left thwarted, unable to get at it.”

Taking aim at some of the more egregious examples, they added: “And clearly some of the wider gripes crop up when it feels like there is excessive plastic in play, and if packaging doesn’t appear to be readily recyclable.”

“Those are all things that can be remedied – waste can be designed out from the start, and paper-based materials can often be much more readily recyclable.”

Additional pet peeves like superfluous layers, scissor-required packaging, and deceitfully-sized product wraps also feature among the top ten consumer package annoyances.

These packaging blunders lead 44% of customers to become less likely or even outright refuse to rebuy such products.

To compound matters, one in five (21%) have struggled with vague recycling instructions, with a third confessing they’d chuck it straight into the general waste because they couldn’t understand how to dispose of it properly.

When it comes to bagging up fruit, 17% of consumers are all for paper bags, while a mere 5% are happy with plastic punnets.

And a significant 38% are fretting about the plastic overload in packaging when they’re mulling over their shopping, so much so, that it’s become an more pressing for some than where the product came from.

It’s usurping then that half of us are wracked with guilt when we see something swathed in an unnecessary amount of plastic, as revealed by OnePoll figures.

Interestingly, a quarter of people would cough up an extra 33p for goods wrapped in a more ‘eco-friendly’ manner, and 22 percent reckon the recycling advice on supermarket wares is as clear as mud.

Chipping in, a spokesperson from DS Smith said: “A lot has changed in the last few years and there is a lot less plastic in supermarkets these days.”

“We have removed more than a billion pieces of plastic from supermarket shelves and supply chains in the last four years, and evidently there is still plenty of opportunity for brands to keep finding ways to reduce and replace plastic.”

TOP 10 PACKAGING IRRITATIONS ACCORDING TO BRITS:

1. Meat packaging that has a corner to peel – but is impossible to peel open
2. When a pull on a tin comes off and you can’t open it
3. When you can’t open something without scissors or a knife
4. When fruit or vegetables are packaged in loads of plastic
5. When packaging is not recyclable
6. When packaging makes the product look much bigger than it is
7. When items are overpackaged in unnecessary layers
8. When packaging is difficult to recycle
9. Items that aren’t resealable
10. When you can’t see the product inside