Australians buy plastic shopping bags in big numbers as ban kicks in

Green groups are calling for a more hardline approach and a ban on selling plastic bags at supermarket checkouts, after a new poll showed Australians continue to buy the bags in big numbers.

Australian shoppers continue to buy plastic bags at the checkout in large numbers, more than a year after major supermarkets stopped handing them out for free.

A poll of more than 1700 News Corp Australia readers found a whopping 70 per cent still buy plastic bags when they shop.

More than half said they buy plastic bags if they forget to bring their own to the shops.

The poll results come after businesses claimed the plastic bag ban was dragging Australia’s economy down.

Australian shoppers continue to buy plastic bags despite the introduction of a ban. Picture: AAP

Major supermarkets started to phase out plastic bags last year.

Single-use plastic bags have been banned in South Australia, Queensland, the ACT and Western Australia, while Victoria is expected to follow in November.

But shoppers can still purchase plastic bags at the checkout for 15 cents.

A poll of News Corp Australia readers conducted on Monday.

Planet Ark spokesman Josh Cole said the poll indicates we need to take a more hard line approach and get rid of plastic bags altogether.

“We don’t normally advocate for bans, we would rather collaborate. But in this case the trend is clearly towards a ban,” Mr Cole says.

Keep Australia Beautiful national deputy chair Dick Gross says we need a national debate on the sale of plastic bags.

“Are we going to be patient or are we going to be more hard line?,” he says.

“The (News Corp) poll is a reality check about behavioural modification by legislation”.

He says we also need to get tougher on food packaging if we are serious about reducing plastic waste.

The National Retail Association estimated in December last year that less than six months after the new rules were implemented there was an 80 per cent drop in consumption of plastic bags nationally.

Woolworths says it has handed out about three billion fewer plastic bags across the country over the past year.

Coles says it has diverted 1.7 billion single-use bags from landfill, with data claiming seven in 10 of its consumers now remember to bring a reusable bag when they shop and a further two in 10 bringing them on more occasions than not.

In May, a UN environmental study concluded that plastic bag bans are working — particularly in African countries where waste is often burned.

Internationally more than 40 countries have banned plastic bags.

Bangladesh was the first to do so in 2002 and a year later South Africa followed.

The government announced hefty fines and even jail terms for their continued use.

In New Zealand, retailers last year were given six months to stop providing plastic bags or face fines of up to $NZ100,000.