I got a paper bag while buying stuff from Officeworks yesterday - is that new, or have they been doing it for a while?
Coles quick to respond
āColes will join Woolworths in phasing out single-use plastic bags over the next 12 monthsā
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Theyāve been doing that a while now. I first noticed it a few years back
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The SMH article says the Coles statement referred to months of consultation with NGOs and environmental groups, and that Woolworths was unaware Coles was planning a statement today. No mention of consultation on the Woolies sideā¦
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Itās been nearly 5 years since the ban in Tassie and generally I donāt noticeā¦ until I go to Woolies and buy more than a few items and end up having to get more of the 15c bags or just getting creative at carrying things out. At other retailers itās not really been noticed as anything different. The change is pretty easy to get used to and if you need there are bags for sale and you learn to pack a lot more into them.
Some of us here would be old enough to remember when your groceries were packed into big, brown paper bags.
I predict sales of plastic bags will soar considering those shopping bags are used for other purposes once you get the shopping home- household garbage and as lunch bags.
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Woolies home shopping still has plastic bags (I think theyāre even free too then) but they are thicker and we still have those for the rubbish etcā¦ I thought that would be a huge issue for us but I guess we just had a massive stockpile and didnāt really notice a difference. Otherwise, purchasing actual bin liners etcā¦ can be done too.
The 15c ones at Woolies and Coles are no good for the bin at home. I ended up just buying a fairly large kitchen bin so a roll of garbage bags lasts me for quite a while going through one a week.
You get in the habit pretty quickly of just grabbing a few bags out of the car when youāre going into the supermarket. The only time I have to buy them is if I underestimate what I need or if the trip into the supermarket wasnāt planned, although in those cases Iāll often toss everything into a trolley and pack it into bags at the car.
I have been using those shopping bags as garbage bags for the last 30 years or so.
The supermarket at Grace Bros in Westfield Parramatta had the brown paper bags, and also had a parcel pickup service. The bags were put on a conveyor belt that went to a drive thru bay in the carpark.
What a stupid change - you canāt on the one hand tell me this is about saving the environment, when Woolworths especially has introduced a ridiculous amount of plastic packaging for its fruit and veg. Sweet potatoes in plastic boxes. Apples in plastic crates and bags. It angers me whenever I see it. And thatās all about extracting extra sales out of consumers who are forced to buy more of something than they need. All about the $$.
Soā¦why arenāt the supermarkets providing bio-degradeable bags? 
Or made from recycled paper?
Why are they going to be charging 15c for these?
Exactly - anyone with half a brain stores and re-uses supermarket bags.
I empty my kitchen rubbish once a day. Why on earth would I want rotting food in my kitchen for a whole week?
Why on earth should I be paying Glad a premium for bin bags when I had them for free before, and Woolies and Coles have the scale to have introduced biodegradeable ones?
Such a stupid change which causes SUCH inconvenience (for actual people, rather than the singletons they interview on the news strolling out of Woolies Bondi with one item in their hands). On the ABC news report tonight, they didnāt get one interviewee saying they didnāt like the change. Considering at the moment it is OPTIONAL to take plastic bags, and you can bring reusable ones wherever you likeā¦those 3.5 BILLION plastic bags per year are obviously being used by someone. 
Iām sure theyāre not that hard to locateā¦
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What happened to Targetās Bio-Degradable Plastic Bags that they instated in 2009? They seemed good when they came out, then plastic bags came back again. 
How much food are you throwing in the garbage?
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They went away when they reverted back to providing free plastic bags after (one of many) changes in management.
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Those bags stunk.
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My apologies then, have just been reading negative comments about this all day and yours came across in a similar way.
Vegetable scraps, offcuts of meat or fish - I donāt think these should be in the kitchen for more than a couple hours.
Nah. Lived without plastic bags for six months and the sky didnāt fall in. Itāll be fine.
Iām really supportive of this move - I think itās ridiculous that it hasnāt happened sooner.
But one thing I think people need to know is that ābiodegradableā polymers (particularly in Australia) have little chance of actually biodegrading. They (particularly common forms like PLA) need an extremely specific environment to break down (basically that of a purpose-made commercial composting facility). There arenāt too many of those in Australia and the overwhelming majority of these biopolymers donāt end up there, and so, like most conventional plastics, theyāll take an eternity to break down.
Thatās why avoiding plastic, or using reusable forms (like Coles and Woolies are bringing in) are fantastic and recycling is the real stand-out option here. Biodegradable plastics, despite the marketing, wonāt help much, at least in Australia.