Woolies got heaps of backlash when they introduced their new Lion King Ooshies collectables for their last campaign, because of all the extra plastic. I mean, imagine banning plastic bags in the name of sustainability and then handing out a bunch of plastic toys that will also spend forever in a landfill.
Woolies seems to have learnt their lesson though, because their next collectable campaign is called “Discovery Garden” and it’s actually as cute as it sounds. The company will hand out little seed packets that kids can grow at home, with care instructions to help.
Woolies has been claiming to care a lot about sustainability, and it’s great to see it in action. They said they wanted to give “Australians of all ages the opportunity to grow their very own fresh food.” Which, honestly, is actually such a positive step for the environment.
It’s based on the international wildly successful “Little Garden” across at New Zealand. Giant grocer New World gave out little seed packets and sustainable pots to grow stuff like sunflowers and bok choy. Kids received one of 24 seed packets that they could collect and grow, and I honestly cannot think of a better way that Woolies could go about this.
Me, buying everything at Woolies so I can earn some cute-ass seeds to grow for myself.
Cutting down on plastic bags and packaging was a great step in minimising the waste we create on this planet, but it totally gets undermined when companies introduce other, harder plastics that will also eventually get thrown out. Ultimately, they still end up in the rubbish and take just as long to break down.
Knowing people and the giant craze surrounding pretty much anything collectable, this is going to go wild – especially because little plants are 100x cuter than Ooshies and way more satisfying since you have to actually grow them.
Is it ethical to get super competitive with a small child over an arbitrary collectable item that literally grows for free in the ground? Probably not but just watch me. I haven’t felt this alive since Pokemon collectable cards were a thing.
Me posing with my new plant babies.
The deets are still pretty hush for Discovery Garden, but we know it’s launching in September. Which makes sense, given the warm and garden-friendly weather in spring. We are defs keen to see some environmentally friendly collectables coming out, and hopefully a bigger effort from big corps to not pollute the land, thanks.
Hopefully other stores *cough* Coles *cough* will follow suit and ditch their plastic collectables too. Lord knows we don’t need anymore landfill clogging up the earth.
Image Sources: Woolworths, GIPHY.
