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Rival supermarket chains Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises have announced a joint campaign to cut down the number of plastic shopping bags handed out in their stores.
Check-out operators around the country will ask customers to think twice before they accept plastic bags, and will encourage them to use reusable shopping bags instead.
The Packaging Council is also involved in the project, which stems from a 2004 accord signed by government, retailers and environment groups, with the aim of reducing New Zealand's use of plastic bags.
Packaging Council executive director Paul Curtis said there had been criticism over a lack of action since the accord was signed, but now real progress was being made.
Although there had been calls for a levy, or an outright ban on bags, the voluntary campaign was the most effective and practical way to deal with the problem, he said.
"Fewer than one in 10 people support a bag tax, so this campaign is entirely consistent with this preference."
He said international experience showed a drop in the use of plastic shopping bags, led to a rise in the use of bin liners, which used heavier plastics.
"This is why...a ban on plastic bags...would simply move the environmental impacts elsewhere."
Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson said a recent survey on attitudes towards plastic bags was "a wake-up call for New Zealanders".
Although 54 per cent of respondents described themselves as "green consumers", two thirds said they always accepted free plastic bags at the supermarket.
Only about a third of shoppers used reusable bags, and South Islanders and men were the least likely to do so, Mr Albertson said.
Sixty per cent of shoppers agreed plastic bags were harmful to the environment, but 66 per cent still said they were useful, he added.
Environment Minister David Benson-Pope said the supermarket campaign was a chance to offer consumers "actual, practical things" they could do to reduce their impact on the environment.
The debate over food miles -- the environmental cost of exporting food over long distances -- had shown how vulnerable New Zealand was to changing international perceptions, he said.
A commitment to reducing the use of plastic bags was a step towards becoming the world's first completely sustainable nation.
- NZPA
