In the lead up to the plastic bag ban from Coles (July 1) and Woolworths (June 20) many customers are wondering- are we being jipped?
From July 1, single-use plastic bags will be banned in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, bringing them into line with South Australia — the first state to ban the bag in 2009 — the ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
While NSW is standing firm, the decision by the both Coles and Woolworths to ditch them across their entire store network has resulted in an effective nationwide ban.
Earlier this month, Woolworths group chief executive Brad Banducci said he didn’t know if he “would have been quite as brave” in making the decision last July had he known “what a headache” it was to take 3.4 billion plastic bags out of the business.
“One of the things that actually upset me a little bit at the time was there was sort of an innuendo that we will profiteer, because we will be charging for a 15-cent or 99-cent bag,” he said.
“Actually [with] the incremental amount of time in store to actually service the customer, certainly it is not a profit driver and we never did it as a profit driver. We did it to do the right thing.”
But could this just be a ploy to re-market the old plastic bags? Sure, the new “better bags” Coles and Woolworths are putting on offer are more durable but again they are still plastic bags- except with a cost.
What do you think?
SheSociety is a site for the women of Australia to share our stories, our experiences, shared learnings and opportunities to connect.
A very good point, Yes I too noticed they were ‘doing away with’ plastic bags but no. They are just getting rid of FREE plastic bags. They are replacing them with plastic bags you have to buy if you need one. It simply comes around to choice once again.