‘Big culture shock’ coming for Whanganui shoppers with ban on single use plastics

Plastic produce bags are among the products banned from July 1. Photo / 123rf

Bringing your own reusable bags to supermarkets and food shops across New Zealand is about to become a necessity.

From July 1, the Government is banning single-use plastic bags (including produce bags), as well as plastic straws and containers, in an attempt to curb plastic waste and stop 150 million single-use plastic bags going to landfill each year.

It means New Zealand will become the first country in the world to ban plastic produce bags and is the next step following a ban on plastic microbeads in 2018 and single-use shopping bags in 2019. Last year a range of items, such as food and takeaway containers and drink packaging, were discontinued.

Foodstuffs sustainable packaging manager Debra Goulding said there would be paper bags on offer at Pak’nSave, New World and Four Square stores but only for “a limited time”.

Goulding said this was to allow customers to get into the habit of bringing their own reusable produce bags.

“Kiwis have adapted well to bringing in their shopping bags to stores, and we’re confident we can all do the same with bringing our own reusable produce bags from home too.”

She said there would be signage and step-by-step instructions provided in the produce department to ensure customers paid only for the weight of their loose fruit and vegetables, and “not the bag they place it in”.

“I’m certain New Zealanders will get behind the wider benefits that removing single-use plastic produce bags will bring, despite a little inconvenience.”

There is not yet a set date for when all paper bags will disappear from Foodstuffs’ stores.

Bringing your own bag will become a requirement for supermarket shoppers. Photo / Bevan Conley

The ban on single-use plastics is placing a larger cost burden on smaller stores that have to purchase paper bags.

Whanganui’s Four Square Eastbrook owner Gordon McIvor said his store had made the transition from plastic to paper bags last month.

“It was a big culture shock for our customers, they still actually come in and ask for the plastic bags even though the paper bags are right there in front of them.”

McIvor said the cost of buying paper bags for his business was “much more” than plastic bags.

“The paper bags that we use cost us about eight cents each.

“As you’re aware, the Government is forcing us all to do it, but because we’re under the Foodstuffs group they made the choice early, and they went out to the suppliers and got a good deal on paper bags, and so we made the transition as fast as we could.”

He said he had observed there were more people bringing in their own bags to carry goods, but also a lot of shoppers were just “going without bags”.

“I support the transition, but it will just be a big change for the community.”

Wild Oats health food shop owner Jo Pawson said he’d always had the choice of paper and plastic bags in his store, but paper bags were “10 times the price” of plastic bags.

“I definitely agree there’s too much plastic around but, when push comes to shove, the cost has to be borne by someone, and it ends up going on the customer’s plate.”

Pawson said the price of a plastic bag was about half a cent, whereas a brown paper bag was anywhere from four to five cents.

“Paper shopping bags with handles are 50 cents, and if you give out 100 of those every day, that becomes $350 every week.”

He said the cost could leap from $1000 for plastic bags to $14,000 to buy paper shopping bags.

“I see it as another cost that has to be built into the pricing of the business and what I charge customers.

“Some business owners will charge shoppers for paper bags, or some will put the cost of buying paper bags into a 2.5 per cent surcharge on using credit cards for purchases, and a lot will just include the charge in pricing when they put their product on the shelf.”

Pawson said swapping plastic bags for more expensive paper bags would mean the price could fall on to the product for the customer to pay.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.