The large Woolworths supermarket will soon stop offering reusable plastic bags to shoppers in stores, and the company announced this morning that it plans to phase them out as part of a sustainability push.
Over the next 12 months, Woolworths and its sister company Big W will begin removing reusable bags from their stores. The bags are sold for 15 cents and, although they are made of plastic, they can only be recycled at Redcycle special stations within the company’s stores.
Woolworths and Big W will phase out reusable plastic bags in June next year.
Natalie Davis, managing director of Woolworths supermarkets, said reusable bags had played their part after the ban on disposable plastic bags in 2018, but these days most shoppers brought their own bags in the store.
“We’ve seen a big change in shopping habits since we stopped handing out disposable plastic bags, with eight out of 10 customers now carrying their own bags home,” he said.
“Reusable plastic bags have played their part, and now is the time to permanently eliminate the sale of plastic bags in our boxes.”
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Davis acknowledged that the end of easily available plastic bags in boxes could be an adjustment for some customers, hence the phasing out, but noted that the move will stop circulating more than 9,000 tons of plastic annually.
However, rival supermarket Coles is not yet doing the same, with a company spokesman telling The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that it would continue to offer reusable plastic bags in stores.
“Coles has introduced shopping paper bags so that WA customers can buy before the state government ban on plastic shopping bags which will take effect on July 1. We have also tried to offer paper shopping bags. shopping in other states to give customers a choice, “he said. said the spokesman.