Plastic bag lovers are stockpiling before they are made illegal

Tuesday, 4 September 2018

Want to help the planet? Here's an easy way to minimise your plastic use.

Some Kiwis have admitted they are stockpiling plastic bags before they become illegal.

Jessica Williams, who works at an Auckland petrol station, said that since the Government announced its intention in August to phase out single-use plastic shopping bags, customers had been taking plastic bags for things like single chocolate bars and drinks 'to save up'.

'It's painful to watch and I can't say no,' she said.

By 5pm on Tuesday, 47 per cent of 70 people who responded to a poll on social website Neighbourly said they were stockpiling plastic shopping bags.

Wellington shopper Gerard Hogan used plastic bags on Tuesday because he left his reusable bags in his car, but said banning plastic bags was a good idea.

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Wellington resident Jessica Hammond said she and her husband had a drawer full of dozens of bags, which they had collected from shopping at their local New World.

'My husband is often out walking and he gets them, so we've got a reasonably big stockpile … [they're] just for bin liners and for when the kids wet their pants, and that kind of thing.'

When their bag collection ran out they would make the switch to having an unlined rubbish bin, she said.

Tauranga resident Alex McLean said her colleagues were now going to the supermarket every day instead of once a week, just to get more bags.

A Wellington resident, who works at Kmart, said customers were helping themselves to whatever bags they wanted, even for single items.

Meanwhile, a 'Bag-Ageddon - Emergency Survival Kit' of 200 single-use plastic bags, listed on auction website Trade Me, sold for $101.

The pile of plastic received more than 59,000 views, 64 questions, had 282 'watchers', a Trade Me spokesman said.

A Tauranga resident said her colleagues were going to the supermarket every day, instead of once a week, just to get more bags. (File photo)

'It got nine complaints and a few curly questions, but for the most part Trade Me members saw the lighter side.'

A spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, which owns New World and Pak 'n Save, said customers were not stocking up on bags.

'We've actually seen a big drop in usage, up to 36 per cent.'

A Countdown spokeswoman said more customers were bringing their own bags when they shopped.

Retail workers say they're disgusted with customers taking bags for one item, despite the bags' adverse environmental impacts being widely publicised. (File photo)

Gerard Hogan, who was putting a load of shopping into his car at New World in the Wellington suburb of Tawa on Tuesday afternoon, said banning plastic bags was a good idea because a lot of plastic pollution came down to laziness.

'Smokers these days are the devils. Plastic bag-users will be the devils in the future. That's how it goes in New Zealand.'

EarthSavvy founder Kristy Lorson said a small percentage of people were against the plastic bag ban, and were not educated on waste issues.

'Many of them are concerned that they will not be able to line their rubbish bins or pick up after their dogs.'

If people didn't have wet rubbish or food waste in their bin in the first place, they wouldn't need a bin liner at all.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said the transition to reusable bags would be quick for some people and retailers, and take longer for other to adjust to.

'Which is why we have factored in time for people to adjust, with a proposed phase-out period of at least six months from when regulations are gazetted,' she said.

'Many New Zealanders are already getting behind this and we've seen people adjust to mandatory phase outs of plastic bags in a number of countries, states and cities overseas.'

The Government has received more than 4000 public submissions on the proposed phase-out to date. Submissions close on September 14.