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Matakana Four Square has been chosen as one of a select number of stores to trial the use of paper and reusable plastic bags, ahead of a national move by parent company Foodstuffs to stop supplying single use plastic carrier bags in all its New World, Pak’n’Save and Four Square stores from January 1.
Owners Brad and Claire Walker are offering customers brown paper grocery bags for 20 cents and heavy-duty plastic carrier bags for 30 cents. They are also selling reusable hessian shopping bags and lighter weight recycled polypropylene bags (which feel like a cross between paper and cloth).
Brad says at this early stage in the trial, there is no strong preference for either alternative to single use bags being shown by shoppers, but they are keen to offer as many options as possible and gather feedback.
“We’re doing this trial, but it’s not just going to be Matakana,” he says. “As a community, we’ll be shaping what’s happening nationally.”
Although a lot of customers are already using reusable bags, a few customers are still showing some reluctance to pay for a shopping bag, but Brad and Claire say it is early days and they are trying to educate people and change their behaviour.
“The most sustainable option is hessian or jute bags and just reusing them over and over again – buy it once, then keep reusing it,” Brad says. “That’s where we want to get people, but the plan is to have as many options as we can.”
They say their research has found that some things are not as environmentally friendly as people might expect, like the fact that while paper bags break down relatively easily and are recyclable, it takes four times as much energy to make them as a plastic bag.
Brad and Claire have also recently installed a soft plastics recycling bin in the store, where plastic bags and plastic wrap – basically, any clean plastic that can be scrunched up – can be deposited. It is then recycled in Australia to make items including park benches and playground equipment.
In addition, they will be dropping all plastic bags in store for Plastic Free July, a national promotion to encourage people to refuse to use any single-use plastic in July.
