The debate to ban plastic bags in New South Wales has been ongoing and recently major supermarket chains have decided to remove single-use plastic bags.
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Woolworths Gloucester announced the removal of the bags as of June 20 with Loveys Grocers IGA Gloucester following suit on July 1.
So what does it this mean the next time you go shopping?
On the free side of things you can bring your own bags or Lovey’s will offer boxes or a reusable Boomerang Bag. In December 2017, Lovey’s installed a stand for the locally made Boomerang Bags, which are sewn by volunteers from donated material, designed to encourage people to take a bag and reuse it instead of plastic.
For a fee, both stores have a range of bags that can be used as an alternative to a single-use plastic bags.
Woolworths has launched its Bag for Good available from June 20, a reusable bag, that when it gets damaged, will be replaced for free, no matter when you bought it.
The damaged bag will be recycled via the REDCycle bin.
REDcycle has recently come to the Gloucester store offering the option to recycle a wide range of soft plastics, including product packing and the single-use plastic bags.
Any money made from the sale of the Bag for Good will fund the Junior Landcare grants program, encouraging young Australians to play an active role in ensuring the sustainable future of their environment.
Landcare Australia chief executive officer, Dr Shane Norrish said the program will help younger Australians become more aware of environmental issues in their own backyard.
“They will have the opportunity to have hands-on environmental education in the class and in the schoolyard, which will only help to better future generations.
“We look forward to seeing applications from schools in the local area when the next grant round is launched in a couple of months’ time,” Dr Norrish said.
But the plastic reduction does stop there as Woolworths prepares to the phase out the sale of plastic straws by the end of the year.
Woolworths Gloucester store manager, Glenn McCormack said it’s been well documented that plastic straws harm marine wildlife and this will help reduce the impact on the marine environment.
Co-owner of Lovey’s Grocers IGA, Peter Trappel said the decision to go plastic bag free was easy.
“We listened to our shoppers and they have told us they want to be more environmentally conscious when shopping. Research shows that by 2050, plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans unless we all do what we can to reduce, reuse and recycle,” he said.
Woolworths will also continue its ongoing program of plastic reduction in fruit and vegetables, which has seen the removal of 140 tonnes of plastic in the last year in Australia. A further 80 produce items are earmarked for plastic reduction trials in the next 12 months.
Planet Ark chief executive officer Paul Klymenko said Woolworths' is taking big strides in the right direction and the butterfly effect of these initiatives on the community and environment is powerful.
“Cutting down on single use plastic waste such as straws is so important - businesses getting behind this is key but as an individual, you can also make a difference by switching to reusable or recyclable options,” Mr Klymenko said.