WThe glasses, with their thick black frames and hidden cameras, look like they're designed for espionage or the Metaverse, but instead they're designed to make your shopping more enjoyable as part of a push to reduce plastic packaging from your weekly grocery store. Eye-tracking headgear is deployed to get inside customers' heads.
It's an impossible sight. A bespectacled shopper is being followed in a Waitrose produce section by a researcher holding a large tablet that displays live footage of him picking up common items such as potatoes, apples and bananas.
Although not cinematic, the film clips will be analyzed by experts who will focus on the in-store messages that are most effective in converting people from buying pre-packaged fruits and vegetables to picking and weighing their own. .
The store in Thatcham, Berkshire, is helping to break the cycle where prompts such as 'Same quality, no packaging' and 'Nature's perfect packaging' throw away almost 100 billion pieces of plastic packaging in UK households each year. It is used to see if it is useful. .
Joanna Linley, from waste charity Wrap, which helped launch the trial, said shoppers had become accustomed to the “convenience” of plastic packaging. She said, “No matter what we say or what we know we should do, realistically it's better to walk into a store and pick up a bag of something than to buy it loose.'' It’s much easier and more convenient.”
In 2018, UK supermarkets and food companies signed a voluntary target to reduce plastic packaging over the next seven years. The goals of the UK Plastics Pact, led by Wrap, include having 30% of all fresh food sold in bulk by 2025, and its work is helping to shape government policy on sustainability.
But the industry is unlikely to achieve that goal. A progress report released late last year found that fresh food sales will ease by an average of 19.4% in 2022, with the percentage varying by retailer from 2% to 30%.
There are compelling reasons to “choose Ruth.” Fresh fruit and vegetables cause more food waste than anything else we buy, with 1.6 million tonnes (equivalent to around £4 billion) thrown away every year. Removing packaging should reduce plastic and food waste by allowing households to buy closer to the right amount.
But for now, supermarkets mainly offer pre-packaged produce. Because it sells and people buy it because it's on the shelves. In 2019, Iceland suspended lax agricultural testing after it led to a 30% drop in sales. “You certainly can't justify investing millions of dollars in new tillers and scales to give customers something they don't want to buy,” company boss Richard Walker said at the time. .
One of the reasons packaging maintains sales is because shoppers spend more money when they buy a kilo of spuds in a bag, rather than the required three or four spuds. Because you pay. However, many people seem to prefer the convenience and hygiene benefits of pre-priced packets.
A recent Wrap survey on this topic includes some helpful customer testimonials. One person said: “I have a serious job and I have a lot to think about… so when I go to Aldi I don't want to discuss what I'm doing.” They said they were reluctant to think about “people touching the fruit” or that it was “convenient” to just pick up the bag.
The study concludes that for looses to become the norm again, it won't be as easy as asking people and supermarkets to change. “System-wide interventions will be needed, including changing the environment, incentives and norms that facilitate the sale and purchase of packaged fruit and vegetables,” the report said.
“The biggest thing we need is for people to choose Ruth when it becomes available,” Linley continues. “Obviously it’s great to ask retailers to sell more loose items, but if people don’t choose to do that, there’s a real disconnect.”
Waitrose currently sells around 100 loose produce lines (about 16% of its range) but did not change its selection level for the trial.This retailer is committed to offering more rose fruits and vegetables in stores, But the reality is complicated, says Sustainability Manager Catherine Roeder. For example, there's no point in removing packaging if your supply chain requires more of it.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the customer picks up the product, goes to the scale, and only then realizes how much they're actually going to pay,” Roeder says. “That’s something we’ve been working on… We’re very clear on how we move to per-piece pricing.”
In addition to eye-tracking data to create a 'heat map' of the most effective signage, a further 300 Waitrose shoppers will be interviewed, split between Thatcham and 'control' stores. The results will be shared with competing supermarkets.
Rachel Green, who stopped by the store during her lunch break, didn't notice it, but had already bought roses anyway. “I think it’s great to be able to actually touch what you’re buying,” she says. “Anyway, I'm going to go home and do the laundry.”
Another shopper, who had just recycled soft plastic packaging bags in the store, said “counting the potatoes is a pain” because they need so many, and added more to make the bags easier to reach. He said he would pay the money. . Potatoes are the most wasted food item in the UK, with nearly 3 million being thrown away every day.
Countries such as France, which face the same plastic problem, have passed laws banning the packaging of many products, and the UK government is reportedly considering introducing new guidelines. Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket, said it welcomed “effective government intervention to remove packaging from produce”.
Ashwin Prasad, Tesco's chief product officer, said in its 2023 Packaging Update Report: “This should start with the products that seem most viable. For example, if multiple retailers For example, if they share the same supplier.” “Government intervention will ensure large-scale changes and create a level playing field where packaging changes do not put any particular retailer at a competitive disadvantage.”
Asked about reports of a packaging ban, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs only said: “We are leading a global effort to reduce food waste with a commitment to halve food waste by 2030.” “We continue to support Rapp's campaign.” ”.
Rapp is currently conducting a global policy review of the law in this area, stating: “Any policies being considered (ban or otherwise) should be developed in consultation with industry to avoid unintended negative consequences.” No changes to the law have been announced at this time. ”