Marks & Spencer has been slammed by shoppers and scientists for selling apples in a plastic TUBE - so they can fit in car cup holders.
The retailer is flogging three ‘Baby Rockit’ apples in cylinder-shaped packets - which they say make them easier to store.
But M&S has been criticised for overuse of plastic by customers including marine biologists.
Professor Brendan Godley, conservation science lecturer at Exeter University, tweeted a picture of the tubing.
Mr Godley wrote: “Please retweet if you think its passe for Marks and Spencer to be selling apples in plastic tubes because they “fit car cup holders (M&S rep).”
His tweet included the hashtags #timetochange and #irresponsiblepackaging.
He later tweeted: “Apples don’t need to come in a plastic tube.
“We should be recycling essential plastics and ablating non essential uses from the marketplace and companies like Marks and Spencer are in a great position to lead.”
And fellow Environmental lecturer at University of York, Bryce Beukers-Stewart, tweeted: “If only apples came with some kind of protective edible skin...
“Poor show Marks and Spencer - I thought you cared about #PlasticPollution.”
A representative for Marks and Spencer responded to the tweets by Bryce, saying the main purpose of the tubes is for “protection and convenience”.
They wrote: “We do care Bryce :/ The main reasons for the tube are protection and convenience. Being a small pack, it can easily fit in a car cup holder, or a bag.
‘’The polymer used is PET which is widely recycled, though we’re working on improving the material used to keep in line with our Plan A initiative.”
Marks and Spencer’s ‘Plan A 2025’ aims to transform lives and communities and for the company to become a zero-waste business.