Woolies WA plastic bag ban feels like too little too late

Woolies has announced it’s phasing out its 15-cent reusable bags in one state – but the reason behind it isn’t what you might think.

OPINION

The news that Woolworths stores in Western Australia are phasing out their “reusable” 15-cent thick plastic bags from July, as part of a statewide ban, feels like too little too late.

While it’s great news that this will see “more than 30 million plastic bags removed from circulation in WA every year”, it highlights that Australian retailers have still got a huge plastic bag problem.

If 30 million Woolies bags will be removed from circulation in WA, which has a population of 2.6 million people, it begs the question of how many plastic bags people across Australia are using per year?

A very rough calculation on how many WA is using would presume Aussies are still using hundreds of millions. Add to that Coles and Aldi bags and the figure must be eye-watering.

These bags cannot be recycled in the kerbside recycling bin and instead need to be taken back to the store for speciality recycling, something which many people don’t do.

Some shoppers simply swapped from single-use bags to thicker ‘reusable’ bags which weren’t then reused. Picture: Ben Rushton/AAP

When Woolies and Coles introduced their thicker reusable bags in 2018, as a replacement for the thinner so-called “single use” bags, it was sold as a victory for the planet.

“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,” Woolies chief executive Brad Banducci said at the time.

“It’s the right thing to do for the environment,” Coles managing director John Durkan said.

And banning single use plastic should be a victory. However, a 2009 study, led by RMIT’s Karli Verghese, found that the thicker reusable plastic bag had to be used at least 52 times to have a less harmful impact on the environment.

And since 2018, many people have simply swapped from using the thinner single-use bags to using the thicker ones every time they shop – potentially sending more plastic to landfill.

At 15 cents per bag this must have also opened up a tidy little profit stream as opposed to the single-use bags, which used to be given away for free.

The 2018 swap to reusable bags doesn’t seem like the environmental success it was hailed as at the time. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

In a statement on Monday about phasing out bags in WA, Woolworths state general manager for WA Karl Weber said: “The vast majority of our customers already bring their own reusable bags to shop, which is the very best outcome for the environment.”

But this didn’t appear to take into account the number of people who, particularly since the pandemic, choose to shop online and aren’t given the option to use their own bags.

These deliveries use the thicker bags as standard (charged at a blanket $1 per order), seeing millions of their “reusable” bags simply not being reused if these customers always get their shopping delivered.

WA’s new plan will see 20-cent paper bags offered in Woolies stores and used for online shopping.

‘Reusable’ Woolies and Coles bags on their way into landfill. Picture: John Grainger

Let’s be honest here, Woolies is phasing out the thicker plastic bags not because they chose to, but in response to WA’s “Plan for Plastics” which will see a statewide ban on plastic bags enforced in July. This will also see the state ban plates, bowls, cutlery, drink stirrers, straws and many other plastic items.

WA is enforcing a change that should have been adopted by all retailers in Australia long before they were forced to do it. Having millions – possibly billions – of plastic bags still going into landfill in 2022 is completely unacceptable.

Well done WA. And the rest of Australia, try harder.

Riah Matthews is the commissioning editor for news.com.au.