Variable geometry packaging | La Presse

How much packaging can you expect when ordering groceries online? The answer varies by retailer. The order preparation process varies greatly from one major chain to another, our team found.

The Press ordered the same groceries from four major supermarket chains: Provigo, IGA, Walmart and Metro. The latter chain offered two packaging options on its website: the “unpackaged” option and the “boxed” option.[s] from recycled cardboard[s] ” We tested both.

Read the article “Packaging: What the experts say”

Budget per grocery store: $150, including delivery.

For comparison, our team also went to one of the supermarket chains. On foot, reusable bags in hand, we made the effort to have as little packaging as possible. Only fish and meat were in Styrofoam trays with cling film.

We purchased about forty items in total per order, always the same from one online service to another. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, meat and fish. The products were ordered on each chain’s website and delivered by truck to the same address, the offices of The Press in Old Montreal.

Bottom line: Packaging methods vary greatly from grocery store to grocery store.

At Walmart, 20 single-use plastic bags were used. It’s the opposite at Provigo, which used none. Metro is close to Walmart with 19 single-use plastic bags, but six more Styrofoam trays. At IGA, all the food is packaged, but half in compostable bags and the other half in manufactured plastic bags.

In several cities, dozens of so-called “recyclable” bags will end up in the trash, warns Recyc-Québec.

The same fate awaits the so-called “compostable” bags that we received: if they tend to end up mixed with others in the recycling bin, the province’s sorting centers will have to discard them and will not take them in, explains the organization.

Here are the results of our analysis.

All of the food purchased was donated to the Mission Old Brewery organization for homeless people.