BYO Supermarket Containers: Solved

01 Sep BYO Supermarket Containers: Solved

I don’t know what it’s like in your local community, but lots of people around me are talking about the problem of plastics.

This article appeared in the Local. A debate had been raging about whether it was legal for customers to bring their own containers to supermarkets. The paper asked me for my thoughts.

Let me say upfront that I used to design federal legislation. Zzzz, you say? I know, that puts some people to sleep.

I love the challenge of finding the desired outcome, then designing the simplest legislative solution to enable that outcome.

Sometimes, though, I find that people are scared of the law, so don’t use it as well as they might. This happens when people see the law as limiting, rather than as an enabler.

Supermarket deli containers? Challenge accepted!

First things first, what is the purpose? In a more environmentally aware world, we are moving away from single-use plastics. For store owners, happy customers are returning customers. If customers want to BYO containers, let’s find a way to make that happen –safely and legally.

What other issues interact with our purpose? As far as I understand, there are two major interactions. First, ensuring customers are charged correctly for the quantity (weight) of product purchased. Second, food safety and preventing food contamination.

Let’s start with the weight issue. I confess that I don’t understand this issue. For as long as I can remember, weighing apparatus has been able to “zero” with a container on it. I have watched supermarket staff place (disposable) plastic containers on the scale, press “zero”, then fill the container and charge for the product only (not the container).

Solution – ensure scales have the ability to “zero” with a range of containers.

The food safety issue is more complicated. Again, with dedication, we can find a solution.

We want to minimise the risk of food safety problems, such as salmonella, and be able to trace the origin of any problem. Where a customer introduces a food safety problem, we must remove the opportunity for cross-contamination.

This is the same issue as BYO cups for cafes.

Simple solution – update procedures to ensure all staff are trained in reducing cross-contamination. Utensils (e.g. tongs, spoons) should not touch the customer’s containers. If touch occurs, the utensil should be immediately cleaned. (This ensures the possibly contaminated utensil does not touch the pile of ham/salad bowl from which other people are served.)

More complex solution – draw up a waiver agreement, have the customer sign it and log an entry each time the customer brings their own container. This is a small outlay for the store – a standard legal agreement and a simple IT system (or excel spreadsheet).

It is always useful to liaise with the local environmental health officers to let them know of the changes and check they are happy with the updated procedures.

Result – no legislative change required.

I would love to see the fantastic new Ritchie’s IGA Lambton run this as a pilot and become the first official “BYO container” store in Australia.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.

Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, August 2019. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.