Enjoy your last week of free plastic bags

A Woolworths store in Brisbane, Queensland with a sign informing visitors they will be 'single-use plastic bag free' in five days time. PICTURE / DANEKA HILL

The plastic bag ban is just five days away for Woolworths shoppers, fourteen days for IGA, and fifteen days off for Coles store-goers.

The phase outs are in reaction to the Western Australian, Queensland, and Victorian governments banning single-used light-weight plastic bags as of 1 July.

The three new legislations means all of Australia with exception of New South Wales will have bans in place on single-use plastic bags.

South Australia was the first state to phase out the bags in 2009, followed by the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory two years later, then Tasmania in 2013.

Food consumption and waste expert Jenni Downes said it’s important for Australians to remember reusable bags are only beneficial to the environment if they are re-used.

Paper bags need to be re-used four times to be better than single-use plastic bags, heavy plastic bags about five times, green bags about 50 times and cotton 173 times.

Stronger plastic bags and ‘green bags’ will be the new norm for the two supermarket giants, while IGA is including cardboard boxes in their new packing materials.

The bans don’t include produce bags for vegetables and meats.

“There was a Californian study that found an increase (in food poisoning) after their plastic bag ban but that ban included small produce bags for fruit and vegetables, whereas our ban is only on single-use shopping bags,” said a spokesperson from the Food Safety Information Council.

For Aldi, it will be business as usual, as they never provided single-use bags.

Daneka Hill

(Above) shoppers in a Coles with high foot-traffic. Picture / Daneka Hill