Woolies, Coles ditch plastic bags

If you want a plastic bag while shopping at Australia’s dominant supermarket chains, you’ll soon have to fork out 15 cents.

Woolworths plastic bags will soon cost 15 cents each.

Shoppers visiting their local supermarket had better go equipped with their own canvass bags or some spare change, as the nation’s two leading supermarkets have announced plans to phase-out free plastic bags across all stores within 12 months. Woolworths was the first to move, arguing it was the “right thing to do’’ as it took an environmental stand on the issue of plastic bags.

Not to be outdone, arch rival Coles followed soon after, announcing this afternoon that it too will scrap single-use plastic shopping bags over the next 12 months.

Coles, possibly prompted by Woolworths announcement at noon, said it would strip out plastic bags across NSW, Queensland, Victoria and WA to join other states that have already legislated their removal.

“We’ve been working towards this announcement for some time now as part of our ongoing program to improve environmental outcomes throughout our business,” said Coles chief customer officer Simon McDowell.

This is despite an inquiry called by the Federal government 10 years ago showing that less than 0.2 per cent of landfill was made up of thrown out plastic bags and that penalising people by charging them money for bags was an uneconomic and weak way to reduce litter.

Customers at Woolworths, as well as its related Big W, BWS liquor stores and online, will from next year have to fork over at least 15 cents per bag in states that have not already passed Government legislation in this space — New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. South Australia, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania already offer single-use lightweight plastic shopping bag free, with Queensland also legislated to join mid next year.

It means an end to the racks of free plastic bags at Woolworths check-outs and self-service check-outs, with shoppers nudged now to bring their own bags from home or pay 15 cents for basic plastic bags with more expensive bags also to be on sale at the supermarket.

Announcing the new policy at Woolworths store in Double Bay, Sydney, chief executive Brad Banducci said as a group it was committed to listening to customers and also “doing the right thing” for the environment.

“We feel this is an issue we need to take a stand on,’’ Mr Banducci said.

“We currently give out more than 3.2 billion lightweight plastic bags a year and hence can play a significant role in reducing overall plastic bag usage. Today’s commitment shows we are committed to taking our environmental and community responsibilities seriously.

“Whilst we know this is a major decision, we will work very closely with all of our store teams to ensure the transition for our customers is as simple as possible.”

But research into the use and littering of plastic bags has found that it is not the environmental catastrophe that some claim.

An inquiry report by the Federal government’s Productivity Commission released in 2006, titled ‘Waste Management’ was called on by then Treasurer Peter Costello to examine and identify policies that will enable Australia to address market failures and externalities associated with the generation and disposal of waste.

It found the case to phase out plastic bags was “particularly weak’’, with the policy of charging money for plastic bags similarly unsound.

“Based on evidence available to the Commission, the case for proceeding with the phase out of plastic bags appears particularly weak. A more cost-effective approach to addressing the underlying issues of concern would be to target plastic-bag litter directly.”

The Productivity Commission also argued that there didn’t appear to be a “sound basis” for the Victorian Government’s then proposed per-unit charge on plastic bags.

“A cost — benefit study commissioned by the Governments shows that the benefits of a phase out or a per-unit charge would be significantly outweighed by the costs. This is because the policies would penalise most uses of plastic retail carry bags, whereas the potential benefit would only come from the small proportion of bags that are littered.”

A report commissioned by the Australian Government also found that the impact of plastic-bag litter on Australia’s marine wildlife is very uncertain, with no evidence found for claims by some environmental groups that at least 100,000 animals were killed each year by plastic bags.

The Productivity Commission report also debunked the suggestion that plastic bags were dominating landfill sites.

“For example, plastic bags take up little landfill space, and their inert characteristics can actually help to reduce a landfill’s potential for adverse environmental impacts: plastic bag disposal to landfill is estimated at … roughly 0.2 per cent of total solid waste going to landfill each year in Australia [by weight].”

Environmental group Clean Up Australia claims Australians use 3.92 billion plastic bags a year, and that an estimated 3.76 billion bags or 20,700 tonnes of plastic are disposed of in landfill sites throughout Australia every year.