An Auckland Countdown store has been embarrassed after wrapping a plastic-free product in copious amounts of plastic. Bostock Chicken is known for its organic, plant-based packaging. The company worked hard to develop an environmentally-friendly packaging that worked for meat, and the product’s green wrapping is easily-identified.
Customer Felicity O’Driscoll noticed the error on Thursday when she saw Bostock’s chicken drumsticks placed on a plastic tray and wrapped in clingfilm. She commented she was horrified, and that the irony of putting home-compostable packaging in plastic was wrong.
The Hawke's Bay organic chicken producer developed the packaging from corn and wood pulp to reduce the company's environmental impact. The plastic tray the chicken was placed on was recyclable, but the layers of clingfilm were not.
George Bostock, co-owner of Bostock, said their company is obviously disappointed and is not sure why it happened. “We worked so hard to develop the plastic-free packaging,” he stated. “At the same time, it’s probably a one-off”.
Bostock said they’ve never had problems with that particular Countdown before. The Countdown in question was one of the first in the country to drop the use of single-use plastic bags.
A Countdown spokesperson said that it was not usual practice to double-wrap Bostock Chicken or any other meat or poultry product.
