No plastic bag?: Supermarket shoppers take baskets home

Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Countdown Orewa has around six baskets left, following the supermarket removing plastic bags from its checkouts.

A Countdown supermarket is asking customers to return shopping baskets that have walked out the door since it ditched plastic bags.

Countdown Orewa removed single-use plastic bags last month and, since then, has gone from about 200 shopping baskets to around six.

'There's no more than 10 left. It's crazy,' Countdown Orewa customer service manager Marlene Williams said.

A Countdown spokesperson confirmed, in a statement, the baskets had been going missing.

**READ MORE:

Countdown store manager James Elliot and customers talk about changing from plastic bags to reusable bags in this video from August.

* Countdown chooses 10 supermarkets to go plastic bag free, rest to follow

* Almost half Countdown shoppers forgetting reusable bags at 'plastic bag free' stores

* A third of Countdown stores are plastic free at checkouts**

Countdown was the first supermarket in New Zealand to commit to being plastic bag-free by the end of 2018.

'[It] is of course disappointing, but we also understand that sometimes change can be tough.'

They said the supermarket would continue to supply baskets, but requested customers return their baskets for other shoppers to use.

'On the whole, we've found customers are really supportive of the change and the majority of customers are already remembering to bring their own bags when they shop with us.'

Countdown Orewa was one of 42 in the chain to discontinue use of plastic bags last month.

The supermarket now sells reusable bags ranging in price from 15 cents to a dollar.

Damaged Countdown brand reusable bags can be replaced with a new one at no cost.

A customer, who wished to remain anonymous, said she once took a basket home when she was caught without a reusable bag.

She was shopping at one of the first Countdown stores to remove plastic bags from the checkouts.

'I normally use a basket and then a reusable bag to pack my groceries. Because I don't use plastic bags to pack my fruit and vegetables in the supermarket, I had a whole heap of loose items, so I decided to carry the basket to my car.'

Once realising it would be hard to transport the loose items in the car, she took the basket home and returned it the next day, without anyone batting an eyelid.

'It was a genuine case of getting caught short.

'I would not want to steal a basket, I think they're mostly dirty and ugly.'