KEY POINTS:
Supermarket shoppers will increasingly be asked if they need a plastic bag when buying a few items.
And when they get home, they might find themselves in a survey as to what they do with them next.
Progressive Enterprises, which runs Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown, is trying to curb the use of plastic bags that can end up as an environmental eyesore and contribute to landfill. New Zealanders use about one billion of them a year.
Elizabeth Higgs, acting head of marketing, Progressive Enterprises, said the company's goal was to reduce plastic bag use by 20 per cent.
Checkout operators would soon be asking customers with three items or less if they wanted a plastic bag.
Mrs Higgs said since early 2003 all checkout staff had been trained to pack at least seven items into each plastic bag where possible.
For the trading year, an average of 556,000 plastic shopping bags had been saved each week equating to nearly 29 million in a 12-month period.
Mrs Higgs said customers were also able to purchase reusable eco-shopping bags, about 9000 of which are sold each week.
The Retailers Association is also commissioning research into finding out attitudes towards bags and their alternative uses.
The plastic shopping bag has been outlawed in some parts of the world.
San Francisco insists on recycled and compostable bags made from corn or potato starch and other cities, such as Los Angeles and Santa Monica, may follow suit.
But such "solutions" are not advocated here.
David Curtis, executive director, Packaging Council of New Zealand, said if people were not given light plastic bags at the counter they tended to turn to other plastics, such as black bin liners, which were worse for the environment.
He said plastic bags accounted for just 0.2 per cent of waste and the focus needed to be on organic, construction and demolition waste.
Bio-degradable plastic bags did not always break down as landfills were not designed for such degradation because of the problems of noxious gases.
Mr Curtis said a goal had been set by major supermarket chains and the Warehouse to reduce plastic bag consumption by 20 per cent between 2004 and 2008.
Rachel Depree, Ministry for the Environment general manager, sustainable industry group, said some use was already being made of biodegradable plastic bags, such as at Mitre 10 stores. But problems remained with the bags not degrading fast enough in composting facilities with a risk of contamination of other composted materials.
Ms Depree said retailers had recently announced a campaign to encourage customers to reuse plastic bags.
The New Zealand Packaging Accord was working with industry and central and local government to reduce packaging in landfills.
Packaging Accord signatories took 12 million bags out of circulation last year with a target to take another 130 million in the next two years.
By October 2006, plastic bag volume had been reduced 2 per cent by volume and 8 per cent by weight. "So we have got a lot of work to do."
Melissa Hodd, executive manager, Foodstuffs New Zealand, said people were being encouraged to reuse their shopping bags and staff were being taught how to pack more efficiently. Foodstuffs, which operates Pac'N Save and New World, had by June 2006 reduced its volumes of plastic shopping bags by 6 per cent and, through the use of lighter weight plastic, achieved a 15 per cent reduction in plastics since the 2004 agreement.
Recently, Bunnings Warehouse said it aimed to be the first major New Zealand retailer to be plastic bag free by year's end.
Less packaging good for winning customer loyalty
LONDON - Shoppers are furious about the level of packaging on everyday food.
An Institute of Grocery Distribution poll suggests manufacturers and retailers who reduce wrappers are likely to improve their reputation with customers and improve "brand loyalty".
The 1000 shoppers surveyed said they were embarrassed by the quantity of rubbish they threw away after shopping, whether it was food - 3.3 million tonnes annually - or packaging.
A shopper from Stockport said: "I try to avoid things that are overpackaged because I have to bring it home and then recycle it." Another from Richmond was angry at the amount of packaging from online delivery.
Gerardine Padbury, senior consumer analyst said: "Reducing food waste does not necessarily mean reducing food sales."
- INDEPENDENT
