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Shoppers adapt to plastic bag ban

Posted on November 6, 2009, 9:09am

Six months into South Australia’s ban on checkout style plastic bags, the sale of green bags at Mount Gambier Fishers IGA store are slowing down.

When the ban was implemented on May 4, checkout operators had to deal with disgruntled shoppers who were outspoken about “wasting” 99 cents on a green bag, but six months on and after stocking up on enough green bags, customers have calmed down.

“At first they complained, but now shoppers seem to have accepted the change and even think it’s a good thing for the environment,” checkout operator Bernadette Crute told The Border Watch.

“Shoppers used to forget to bring green bags along when they came shopping, but my guess is that about eight out of 10 shoppers now remember to bring their bags.

“And those who left their bags in the car, now just take their groceries in the trolley to the car and pack it into the bags there before they drive off.”

Checkout operators also find they do not need to explain to customers that they are not allowed to hand out plastic bags due to the ban, but being close to the Victorian border, they are still educating visitors about the South Australian change in law.

According to research done by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, nine out of 10 shoppers are now taking reusable bags to the supermarket, and 82pc believe the ban is having an impact on landfill and litter.

It is estimated that 200 million checkout style bags have in the past six months been stopped from entering landfill.

Mount Gambier City Council operational services director Daryl Sexton said there has been visibly less plastic bags ending up in the Caroline Landfill facility in Mount Gambier.

“There still are plastic bags and there will always be because certain types of plastic bags are still being handed out, but at least we see a lot less of the nasty plastic checkout style bags ending up in landfill and that’s a great thing,” he said.

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