Supermarket sales for reusable bags soar after plastic bag ditch

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Sixty-seven of Countdown's 182 stores will be single use plastic-free by the end of next week.

Reusable plastic bag sales are soaring after supermarkets stopped offering single-use plastic bags.

An anti-plastic change is taking place across the country, but customers aren't welcoming it with open arms.

Desperate Countdown customers have been taking shopping baskets from Orewa and Dunedin stores home. Countdown Orewa has gone from having about 200 shopping baskets to six in the past month.

A spokeswoman for Countdown said the situation was 'disappointing' and asked customers to return the baskets.

Shoppers are paying for plastic in many cases. Sales of reusable plastic bags are on the rise for Countdown, but have increased six-fold for New World since it ditched single-use plastic bags.

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

Countdown general manager of corporate affairs and sustainability Kiri Hannifin said its stores used an average of 6000 bags every day.

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

Foodstuffs NZ spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said baskets going missing at its New World, Pak 'n Save and Four Square stores was 'not a widespread issue'. It had also consulted with its customers in a survey before decided to phase them out.

Laird said the supermarket chain also gave away 'millions' of reusable bags to help their customers transition into using them.

She said use of single-use plastic bags had declined by 30 per cent.

Countdown also sells a recyclable bag for $1, which can be brought back into the store and replaced free when it breaks down.

New World, Pak 'n Save and Four Square will stop providing plastic checkout bags from December 31, 2018. Liquorland is expected to end the use of single-use plastic bags by February 2019.

About 85 per cent of Countdown's 182 stores will be single-use plastic-free by the end of next week.

Countdown general manager of corporate affairs and sustainability Kiri Hannifin said its stores used an average of 6000 bags every day.

'With our stores using on average around 6000 bags every day, the faster we can make this change, the sooner we can make a difference for the environment,' Hannifin said.

Since the phase out of single-use plastic carrier bags in May, Hannifin said Countdown had already removed 22.5 million bags from circulation.

Earlier this year, Woolworths in Australia backtracked on its plastic bag ban because customers refused to pay A15c (NZ16c) for plastic bags at the checkout.

Queensland legislation passed in September 2017 banned single-use plastic bags from being provided in supermarkets, takeaway stores, pharmacies, goods sold online and markets from July 1, 2018.

The supermarket giant said it would hand out free reusable plastic bags for 10 days after stores were inundated with complaints from customers who refused to pay for bags or did not have enough of their own stored up.

At the time Foodstuffs managing director Steve Anderson said Kiwis would not react the same way.

'We don't anticipate the same reaction in New Zealand. Perhaps it's because Kiwis are keener to look after what we have.'

The Government announced plans to ban single use plastic shopping bans over the next year.