NZ plastic bag ban: The exemptions and the rules explained

Friday, 28 June 2019

Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage discusses plans to ban single-use plastic bags. (Video first published in December 2018)

Single-use plastic bags will be banned from being sold or distributed in New Zealand from Monday – but there are some exemptions.

Bags without handles and those that have already been used escape the ban, which comes into place on July 1.

Anyone worried about how the ban might affect salmonella transmission rates due to a sudden proliferation of dripping raw chicken – or their ability to clean up after their dog – can relax.

The plastic bag ban comes into force on Monday - but there are many exceptions.

Supermarkets will continue to provide so-called barrier bags that package meat, and sell the likes of dog poo bags, nappy bags, and bin liners.

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A Ministry for the Environment spokesman said those types of bags were 'currently needed' for hygiene purposes and confirmed there were no further bag bans on the horizon.

Another single use plastic bag to survive will be the produce bag, found in rolls of flimsy plastic at supermarkets' fruit and vegetable areas. They don't have handles so escape the ban.

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin said she understood such bags were, however, a 'bugbear for customers'. She encouraged their detractors to 'go nude' – to just pop that broccoli straight into the trolley without bagging it – or bring more ethical bags from home.

Hannifin said Countdown was currently researching alternatives for produce bags.

Local markets, fish 'n' chip shops, and all retail stores would face the same ban as supermarkets.

Kate Mitchell, co-owner of the Waipu Boutique Sunday Market in Northland, said single use plastic bags were widely wielded by stallholders who would have to change their ways.

She had already tried phasing the bags out, but said the cost of paper alternatives kept many of her 50-odd stallholders using plastic until the last minute.

A box full of paper bags would be at the gate after the ban, Mitchell said, and she hoped market-goers would quickly get into the habit of bringing their own bags.

The Pukekohe Market's manager Ben Wormald-Niu embraced the ban: 'We don't need plastic bags, they just make the market and town look bad,' he said.

It would be up to stallholders which alternatives they used for their wares.

Allen Xia of Avondale's European Chinese Takeaway was also pleased plastic bags were being banned. He would have recyclable bags available for $1 and said he hoped their hefty price tag – relative to a piece of fish – would encourage customers to bring their own.

Retailers that keep selling or distributing new, handled, single-use plastic bags after July 1 could be slapped with a fine up to $100,000.

The Ministry for the Environment spokesman said the ban was intended to spark a culture shift within New Zealand. It required the Government, businesses and individuals to change their habits together 'to better protect the environment'.