it&rsquos the supermarket gripe driving us crazy.where we once were happy to pick up an individual sweet potato or choose a nice looking pair of tomatoes, we are now faced with shrinkwrapped cucumbers, individually packaged heads of lettuce and handfuls of basil leaves encased in their own container with lid.customers are up in arms about excessive packaging for their fresh produce in our supermarkets and grocers.and a west australian shopper has decided to do something about it, launching a change.org petition to stop woolworths and coles from wrapping small portions of herbs, vegetables and fruits in plastic and styrofoam.&ldquothe world is overloaded with plastic. consumption of disposable plastic is a major contributor to plastic pollution,&rdquo pat lowe, of broome, says in her online petition.multicoloured capsicums are now available wrapped in plastic at your local coles.&ldquothese items may be used for a day, or just a minute, but remain in the world forever. plastic does not disintegrate.&ldquowrapping fresh food in plastic is an unnecessary use of nonbiodegradable materials, which is leading to the proliferation of harmful waste, much of which is ending up in our oceans.&rdquoshe illustrated the petition with a shot of an individual organic sweet potato wrapped in styrofoam and clear plastic.too much a west australian woman is campaigning for coles and woolworths to stop excessive packaging for vegies. source suppliedshe explained that she and a friend became &ldquoincensed&rdquo when they saw the proliferation of plastic in their local supermarkets.&ldquothere&rsquos so much plastic in the world and i don&rsquot think people realise the harm that it does,&rdquo she told news.com.au.shrinkwrapped cucumbers are a common sight. source newscomau&ldquothe interesting thing is they are wrapping the organic vegetables. you&rsquoll find a single potato wrapped. it makes absolutely no sense.&ldquothey should go for bulk, rather than these piddly little bits of this and that.&ldquothe funny thing is people keen on organic vegetables are not the kind of people who want to buy plastic.&rdquooften the organic products are wrapped to differentiate them from the cheaper, nonorganic produce, but ms lowe said there were smarter ways supermarkets could identify organic stock.her petition has attracted more than 49,000 signatures so far, just shy of its 50,000 target, and ms lowe said she &ldquohadn&rsquot heard anyone not agree&rdquo with the campaign.overkill two cobs of corn presented on styrofoam and wrapped in plastic. source newscomaushe was spurred into action after learning of the problem of plastic pollution at the midway islands in the north pacific ocean.tiny pieces of plastic debris from nearby nations accumulate at the islands and are a hazard to native bird populations. the plastic is regularly fed to albatross chicks, which can be fatal.beyond her campaign to encourage supermarkets to change their practices, ms lowe said shoppers had a part to play in reducing waste.&ldquoin general, our use of plastic is excessive and we all need to think of that and try to get rid of it from our lives,&rdquo she said.when approached for comment by news.com.au, a coles spokesman said &ldquowe make every effort to prioritise the selling of loose fruit and vegetables to minimise packaging as much as possible, however, there are times when packaging is required to protect the product&rsquos freshness and to ensure food safety from farm to home.&ldquoif packaging is used, we aim to have the best environmental outcomes. the vast majority of our trays are made of pet which is fully recyclable at kerbside collections and all plastic film we use can be brought back into stores to be recycled through the redcycle program.&rdquoin a statement, woolworths said &ldquowe understand our customers are concerned by the packaging used and we are currently looking at recyclable or sustainable alternatives for macro organic produce.&rdquolettuce heads individually wrapped at woolworths. source newscomau 
