Some supermarkets are kind of trying to go green, trying to become environmental friendly, trying to show initiatives, which is a nice try and would be a step in the right direction, if it is properly done…..would be only, because at the end it is just greenwashing and not serious action….just pretending, just greenwashing...just a facade, just greenwashing...

Why pretending to move forward, when it is literally not really a step forward and a waste of resources or even worse, a waste of money with little improper results….doing a bit of thinking green means not doing it right or in a proper way, it actually means making the customer confused and at the end the situation worse, since the resources and money could be spend properly to have good and real green results rather than just a green surface, just greenwashing....

At Nakheel Center in Saar for disposing plastic bottles at the very expensive vending machine was not a pleasant green expereince at all.

A mother with her kid trying to fill the machine, which does not accept slightly squeezed or damaged cans/bottles and make it very time consuming to place one by one in the opening, either to be rejected or accepted. Some were accepted, some rejected and at the end they gave up. The promised inkless receipt of points is a thermo paper receipt not able to be recycled and depending on the mood of the machine you take a receipt even if you are not done, as the time for trial and error is ridiculous and interrupted from time to time.

It does not make sense to transport empty bottles if you cannot squeeze them as literally you are transporting air, so it is waste of volume. Imagine you have 100 bottles or can to transport, because the machine will only accept noon squeezed bottles/cans. 

Luckily the machine showed “full” on the screen so the new experience of emptying the machine could be witnessed. One person, who was not really known in the market, when asking for emptying the machine, has the magic key. After a while, like 5-10 minutes, the person with the magic key finally appears.

The high tech machine is opened and surprise surprise, the bag is full as well is the little extra storage. The bottles/cans are not squeezed even inside the machine, means with around 100 big bottles or maybe 200 cans the storage, which is a simple bag, is full. For further recycling as this is the purpose again plenty of air has to be transported. Very green and eco friendly. The whole procedure is ridiculous time consuming and inefficient. Noone actually knows who is collecting the disposed bottles/cans what is going to happen with them.  

When done with depositing all available bottles and like 4-5 inkless receipts, showing total 110 points, it is the time to convert them into something valuable.

At the cashier they stated: “You can get a chocolate bar for each 50 points!” Bravo, saving the environment will give you a plastic wrapped unhealthy chocolate bar. Well done and nonsense. Why not giving the people a banana, an apple or something else healthy and not mandatory wrapped in plastic?

Requesting for the store manager, he offered me a reusable bag, which I have obviously already in my hand. Customer care at its best. Well done and nonsense.

We agreed on a box of wheat biscuits. Now the sales person exchanged at the cashier my 4-5 “inkless” thermo paper receipts, which cannot be recycled of course, for the wheat biscuits and asked me, standing next to the manager with my reusable bag in my hand: “Sir you need a plastic bag?” Speechless of that action I just looked at him and he asked again. We all are created with 2 hands ….mmmh what could be done with them…maybe carrying things from A to B, even without a bag…mission impossible it seems.

To put it together: Having 1 item of 480gr to carry from the supermarket to the 20m far away car you seriously need a single use plastic bag? Are they serious?  They are going green? Not at all….just greenwashing.

Finally observing, before leaving with a new greenwashing experience, plenty of unnecessary prepacked fruits and products are on the display and on top of it, a sign hanging above the cashier shows proudly on one side: “No to plastic bags” and on the other side “95.000 that is how many plastic bags we use in a week”……….What the hell…….380.000 in a month…. 4.580.000 in a year…”It is time to change, but we need your help”….first you need to help yourself, stop asking environmental concerned customers if they need a plastic bag..this shows your ignorance in dealing with “going green”

It is green washing at its best….pretending to go green, wasting money for nonsense and not having a clue what they are doing….honestly you can show off much cheaper or be serious and invest the money to have proper processes in place….Alosra, sorry nice try, but you failed completely…