Supermarket shopping bags - your #1 choices at the checkout have changed + a new ban on heavyweight plastic bags

In June 2023, it was announced in the media that Woolworths have gone back on their promise to only sell paper bags made in Australia as their supermarket shopping bags of choice, a decision they made over 2 years ago now. Never one to go for a click bait headline, I kept reading.

Woolworths had made the decision to stop selling the plastic bags at the checkout for people who don't bring a reusable shopping bag with them. You can see what they offer now on their official site here. The backflip is an understandable one, and one that can be prevented by more people remembering to take their own reusable shopping bags and produce bags.

Demand for the paper bags is so high (sold at 25c each, as the cheapest alternative, now that the 15c plastic bags are no longer available) that the Australian manufacturer can't keep up and Woolworths had no choice but to source overseas. Woolworths have supported investment in machinery with their suppliers to try and keep up with demand, and the demand for these paper bags has created over 50 jobs in two manufacturing facilities combined.

Avoid buying supermarket shopping bags - Our top 4 tips to remember to bring your shopping bags

1. When you unpack your groceries, put them straight back in the car
2. Hang something on your keyring that reminds you, it can be anything, something bright, something fun, something nostalgic, just something that reminds you of shopping. It can even be a compact shopping bag
3. Put a note on the back of your front door saying "Are you going to the supermarket"
4. Leave a stack of shopping bags in the way somewhere you need to walk past when you leave the house

If you're someone who never needs to buy supermarket shopping bags and always bring your own, whatever you do, just remember to reuse and wash your bags on a regular basis. The longest lasting bags are not plastic free, but they're made of nylon and if you buy good quality ones, you'll have them for a decade or more. The best eco bag that leaves the smallest footprint is a bag made from jute.

Thicker plastic bag ban in ACT from 1st January 2024

The ban on lightweight plastic bags began back in 2011 with South Australia banning lightweight plastic bags. The legislation allowed for thicker reusable plastic bags to be used instead, with the hope that they would be reused. As time has passed, it has become clear that not enough of them are being used to warrant their place out in the world, so the ACT, who were the second state to ban the thin plastic bags, are banning heavyweight plastic bags from January 1 2024. Now, anything more than 35 microns in thickness are also going to be banned along with the thinner ones.

This all falls under the Plastic Reduction Act of 2021 which initially covered the ban of single use plastic cutlery, stirrers, polystyrene containers, single use plastic straws (exemptions apply for those who need them), cotton buds with plastic sticks, anything that breaks down in to microplastics and lightweight plastic bags under 35 microns. A further addition was made in July 2023 to include single use plates & bowls, polystyrene pack fill and trays, microbeads in personal care & cleaning products.

This all applies only to the ACT, but we expect other states to follow suit as they did with the plastic bags ban. You can read a more detailed account of the legislation on the Everyday Climate Choices website run by the ACT government.

It is good to see big business get ahead of the changes, as Woolworths have done, by discontinuing the use of their 15c thicker plastic bags, which eventually will be legislated out of circulation.