Countdown trials produce with paper instead of plastic

Your shopping trolley could be looking very different soon. Photo / Supplied

Countdown will be trialling the sale of produce wrapped in paper rather than plastic as part of a 10-week programme to test the viability of reducing plastic.

The trial will see more than a tonne of plastic removed from fruit and vegetables across three Countdown stores in the Auckland region: Ōrewa, Ponsonby and Manukau.

The "Unwrapped" trial kicked off today and more than 800 customers have already provided feedback in store.

Plastic produce bags have been removed as part of the trial, along with the "unwrapping" of 68 products that would normally come packed in plastic.

Countdown hopes customers will use reusable bags for produce. Plastic bags in the bulk food section have also been replaced with paper bags.

"What our customers in these stores will be experiencing is completely different to what they've seen before, and their feedback will be a hugely important part of our work to reduce plastic across the supermarket," says the supermarket chain's general manager corporate affairs, safety and sustainability, Kiri Hannifin.

"Our teams serve three million New Zealanders every week in our stores. While it might sound easy to change packaging, there is a complicated system behind the scenes to ensure that we can provide great quality, fresh food for every single one of those customers every day. 'Unwrapped' will change the way our customers shop for 10 weeks, but it could have a long-lasting impact on how all New Zealanders shop in the future and help guide our next steps."

According to Countdown Ponsonby store manager Paul Maxwell, feedback has already been overwhelmingly positive.

"I think people are genuinely surprised about how different it looks," he said.

"Getting rid of plastic is something I hear a lot about from customers so it's awesome to be able to give them some real and tangible changes. It's going to take a bit of behaviour change from us all but from what I've seen this morning in my store, customers are really excited about giving it a go and are adapting really well already."