Woolworths has announced its Supermarkets, BWS, Metro and Woolworths Petrol stores will no longer provide single-use plastic shopping bags nationally from 20 June 2018.
The confirmation of the date for the phasing out of bags from stores where a statewide ban hasn’t already been implemented follows the commitment by the Woolworths Group last year that it would end the use of single-use plastic shopping bags in all stores by the end of June 2018.
Group wide more than 3.2 billion single-use plastic bags are handed out by Woolworths in Australia each year.
Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said; “We feel very strongly this is the right thing to do, and that together with our customers we can help create a greener future for Australia.
“Our teams have been working hard behind the scenes to accelerate the rollout of this plan so we can start making a positive impact on the environment as quickly as possible.
“We know this is a big change for our customers and store teams, and we need to do all we can to make the transition as seamless as possible for both.
“To this end, we have a dozen supermarkets across Australia going single-use plastic bag free from today. We’ll closely monitor feedback from customers in these stores and apply any lessons we learn to our national rollout on 20 June.”
The 12 Woolworths stores phasing out single-use plastic bags from today include stores in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA.
In NSW, Woolworths Beecroft opened single-use plastic bag free last year, joining stores in South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT who no longer offer the bags for customers due to State legislation. Several Metro branded Woolworths stores in NSW and Victoria have also already implemented the ban.
Customers who don’t bring their own bags to Woolworths will have access to a range of alternative shopping bag options in store, including thicker reusable plastic bags at 15 cents and canvas bags at 99 cents.