Since January, self-service scales from Coop and Migros have asked you to indicate which type of packaging – plastic, paper, textile or none – is used when weighing products. This modification meets the new legal requirements prohibiting the inclusion of the weight of the packaging in that of the weighed products.
It’s a discreet revolution that has affected the fruit and vegetable section of supermarkets in Switzerland. When weighing their food, the scale asks customers to specify the type of packaging used. Plastic, paper, textile or none: a simple question which, for some customers, may have been a source of confusion.
“I don’t really understand why, but I imagine that maybe they want to charge a few cents for the plastic bag. I completely understand, it’s probably for ecological reasons,” reacted a customer from Coop on the microphone at 7:30 p.m.
Two grams too much
Well, not at all! The decision was made by the Federal Metrology Institute METAS – the federal competence center for all matters relating to metrology, measuring instruments and measuring methods. Before that, it tolerated a plastic bag of two grams in the weight of the goods. In 2025, it’s over. “This modification ensures that only the net weight of the goods is weighed and invoiced to the customer,” he emphasizes.
Same system at Migros, as Tristan Cerf, Migros spokesperson, explains on 7:30 p.m., while demonstrating. “I put my packaged bananas on the scale. We are not going to charge the customer for the 2 grams of plastic. So, there is the possibility of choosing.” The two grams of the bag are then deducted from the weight of the goods.
News that does not seem to pose a problem to customers. “It’s good news, as long as we don’t pay. I also tell myself that we should stop using plastic bags,” said a Migros customer.
-If the brands offer reusable paid bags, the plastic bag has not said its last word. “We have to offer free bags. To protect loose fruit.”
But bags or no bags, in most cases the price of groceries will not change.
TV subject: Théo Jeannet
Web text: Fabien Grenon
Swiss