The retailer has plans to slowly run down the stock of the 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags across stores in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania over the coming weeks and encourage the customers to bring their own bag to the stores
The plan is expected to remove more than 9,000 tonnes of plastic from circulation per year across the nation. (Credit: Woolworths Group Limited)
Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has started the elimination of its 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags from its stores in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
The move aligns with the retailer’s plan to stop the sale and use of plastic shopping bags in all its stores in Australia from June.
Woolworths has plans to slowly run down the stock of the 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags across these three locations over the coming weeks.
According to the supermarket chain, the plan is expected to remove more than 9,000 tonnes of plastic from circulation per year across the nation.
Over the last 12 months, the company has already removed these bags from stores in the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
The supermarket chain said that its customers are reacting positively to the ongoing change. The company also said that eight in every 10 customers already bring their own bags for shopping.
Woolworths Supermarkets stores director Jeanette Fenske said: “We’re excited to have Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania complete our national journey to remove the 15-cent plastic shopping bag from all our stores nationwide.
“Having reusable bags on hand has become second nature for many shoppers, and so far we have seen our customers embrace this change with their usual eagerness to do good for the environment.
“Bringing your own bags is the very best outcome for the environment, and we encourage our customers to keep up the great work. Paper bags will continue to be available for those who forget to bring their own – but ultimately we want to sell less bags altogether.”
In 2018, Woolworths removed single-use plastic bags from stores and launched the 15-cent plastic shopping bag to help customers adjust to the change.
The company is encouraging customers to bring their own bags. However, it will continue offering a paper shopping bag that can be reused and can carry up to 6kg of groceries.
In July last year, Woolworths and Pact Group unveiled their plans to collaborate on recycled packaging and circular packaging.