Woolworths customers must now bring or buy reusable shopping bags nationally as the retailer farewelled the single-use plastic bag across its outlets yesterday.
The move spans all the retail giant's supermarkets, as well as its BWS, Metro and petrol outlets, in a move that will remove more than 3.2 billion single-use plastic bags from circulation annually.
Woolworths and Coles last year agreed to help solve Australia's disposable plastic bag problem by stopping the use of single-use bags by June 30 this year, with Woolies then bringing that deadline forward to 20 June.
The change has broad support among shoppers, according to the retailer, with a recent survey showing three-quarters (74.7%) supporting the move to remove single-use plastic bags.
“From the beginning, we felt strongly that this was the right thing to do and we’re really pleased to see customers are behind the change as well,” Woolworths group CEO Brad Banducci said.
“This is a landmark day for us not just as a business, but for our customers and communities, to help support a greener future for Australia. We are proud to say that from now on, single-use plastic bags are gone from our stores, for good.
“What we’re trying to do with this change is encourage more customers to bring their own reusable bags when shopping, so we can prevent plastic bags from reaching our waterways and reduce the overall production of plastics."
By the end of the month, all Woolworths stores will also offer flexible plastic recycling options in all supermarkets via the REDcycle program, which is a closed loop recycling solution where customers can return soft plastic packaging used on produce, biscuit packets, frozen food bags, rice and pasta bags, confectionery packets and shopping bags, which are then sent to recycling partners. The material is delivered to REDcycle to be turned into recycled plastic products such as outdoor furniture.
Coles will also be removing single-use plastic shopping bags on 1 July, in states where bans are not already in place.
The supermarket chain has also pledged to reduce plastic wrapping on fruit and vegies, including bunches of bananas, kale, and silverbeet, and replace meat and poultry product packaging with recycled and renewable materials.
It set itself a deadline of 2020 to halve food waste from its supermarkets and make all packaging of its branded products recyclable.
