Countdown to Plastic Bag Extinction

Sheralee from Te Atatu Peninsula

Ten Countdown supermarkets - four stores in Auckland and one each from Blenheim, Dargaville, Christchurch, Gisborne, Wellington and Whanganui - will begin phasing out single-use plastic bags from May 21.

These 10 stores will no longer offer plastic bags at the checkout and customers will have to bring their own, or buy a reusable bag.

Since Countdown announced its decision to phase out single-use plastic bags last year, and following Stuff's Bags Not campaign, plastic bag use at the supermarket had reduced about 16 percent.

However, Countdown still used 350 million plastic bags a year and changing customer behaviour was the biggest challenge to lower that, said Countdown’s Kiri Hannifin.

"Whatever you bring, we’ll pack it for you. If you bring a bucket or a wheelbarrow … then that's cool, and if you forget, then we'll have some options available."

The remaining 172 Countdown supermarkets will go plastic bag free by the end of the year, and with competitors, New World also committing to phase them out by the end of 2018, New Zealanders face a largely plastic bag-free future.

The switch has also led to grassroots community-led solutions to help the transition away from plastic, like Boomerang Bags.

Sewn by like-minded volunteers from recycled materials in working bees, the bags are recycled within the communities in which they're made.

The shopping bags are meant to be used free of charge, washed if necessary, then returned to collection points across the community for re-use.

The scheme has proved popular in New Zealand, with communities across the country launching their own branches.