Whanganui girls want plastic supermarket bag ban

The world's oceans are clogged with 150 million tonnes of plastic. Photo / Supplied

Three Whanganui High School girls would like you to do your supermarket shopping between 3.30pm and 4.15pm on two days this week.

The girls want all Whanganui's supermarkets to stop giving out plastic bags to shoppers. They are targeting Pak'nSave and Countdown Trafalgar Square, which have less active policies than the other two large supermarkets for reducing the use of plastic grocery bags.

They plan to be at Pak'nSave from 3.30pm-4.15pm on August 8, and at the Trafalgar Square Countdown at the same time on August 9.

Holly Parkes, Zara Roestenburg and Ashley Fowler are in a Year 13 Social Studies class at Whanganui High School. They have to make an inquiry into an issue, with the aim of changing a policy.

Zara has some first hand knowledge of the grocery situation. She works at Pak'nSave, which sells bags for 10c each.

The three plan to stand outside the supermarkets they are targeting at the times they have chosen and take the names and phone numbers of people bringing their own reusable grocery bags. The names will be put into a draw and two people will each win prizes of a $20 supermarket voucher, a free coffee at Jolt and five reusable shopping bags.

The girls will also be talking to shoppers about the plastic issue, and asking them to sign a petition to ban single-use bags given out in supermarkets. The petition may be taken to a MP.

Their main motivation, Holly said, is the suffering caused to animals by ingesting plastic - especially sea animals and birds.

"And of course we eat fish as well," she said.