The Herald investigates whether it's possible to shop plastic free by visting 3 NZ supermarkets armed with a shopping list of 17 kitchen staples or household items.
COMMENT: I suppose it was only a matter of time: the inevitable jump in plastic bin liner sales, right off the back of supermarkets banning plastic bags (the free single-use ones anyway).
Most of us, especially those of us with kids or dogs, used these bags for rubbish, for sloppyscraps, for kids' dirty shoes or for doggy messes.
No amount of advice on how to make bin liners out of newspaper, which basically involves some kind of modern day origami, is going to fill the plastic bag void.
At the end of the day, most people want to line their rubbish bins in a leak-proof capacity, and if they can't do it for free via the supermarket bags, they're going to pay for it.
Well from a supermarket point of view - yes. Groceries are either in jute bags, cardboard boxes or straight back into your trolley these days.
Even the apologies have stopped. Where the checkout operator once looked slightly flustered as she apologised for no bags, she now happily tosses your groceries into the trolley without so much as a second glance.
Serial offenders like me, who kept forgetting to take the jute bags out of the boot and into the supermarket, have now learned to take them every time.
There's nothing quite like juggling some eggs, milk, bread and toilet paper in your arms as you navigate a supermarket car park to prompt the old memory next time round.
The other heartening news here is that people are getting on board with plastic alternatives.
Sales of paper bags and paper straws have increased 150 per cent. The hipsters are buying compost bins.
Cafes are using stainless steel straws and rewarding those who bring keep cups for takeaway coffees. So we're making baby steps in the right direction, (albeit still needing our bin liners).
But when consumers are making decisions with their wallets, to support less plastic by buying paper bags and paper straws, then we're starting to get cut-through.
And as more consumers demand less plastic, supermarkets will be forced to find more eco-friendly alternatives to the rest of the plastic-wrapped goods lining their shelves.
Will these small measures stop the plastic clogging the world's oceans? No, not at this stage, but like all change, we have to start somewhere.
