Butcher has an axe to grind with 'money-making' bag ban

NOT all Warwick businesses are seizing the opportunity to charge customers for something that has 'always been a part of costings'.

NO CHARGE: Ross Bell of Bell Butchers gives out paper bags for free in the wake of the plastic bag ban. Picture: Elyse Wurm

CHARGING customers for carry bags is a "money-making venture" against which some Warwick businesses have taken a stand.

Trish Bell, from Bell Butchers on Pratten St, said absorbing the cost of carry bags was something businesses had always had to factor in and the recent ban on single-use plastic bags shouldn't change that.

"We have never charged for carry bags and I just think that it is a money-making venture, which has been proven in the media this week," Mrs Bell said.

"It has always been a part of your costings so I won't see why we need to charge and make money on that."

Ross and Trish Bell have transitioned to giving customers paper bags to carry their products home.

"We feel that was the whole idea of changing the bags over to me that is better for the environment," Mrs Bell said.

The problem of single-use plastics is one that is hard to avoid when you are dealing with fresh, juicy meat.

Meat products are still wrapped and packaged in plastic barrier bags, which have not been banned. But some customers are finding a way around that one as well.

Mrs Bell said a number of customers brought glass containers into the butchery to carry their meat home.

Originally published as Butcher has an axe to grind with 'money-making' bag ban