Dear Coles, I would like to invite your executive team to join the many thousands of ordinary Australians who spend their free time picking up plastic waste. It’s hardly our first choice for a good time, but someone has to do it.

There are perks - like camaraderie and the glimmer of hope that the Styrofoam you’ve pulled out of your local creek won’t end up as a grey heron’s lunch. But there’s also the unavoidable realisation that it is not just a thankless task, it is an endless one – unless we reduce plastic pollution at its source.

I do get it that you have to listen to your customers. And as Wesfarmers wants you to "demerge", I also know you’re super sensitive about anything that might get in the way of a customer’s unimpeded pathway to the checkout.

But, until you reneged on the removal of free plastic bags, I was a regular Coles customer too. Like many others, I have contacted you on Facebook bemoaning the recent failure of corporate leadership. The end of thin plastic bags was great news, then you started giving even thicker ones away for free - and now you're going to do that indefinitely.