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Green shopping encouraged with free reusable bags

Two-hundred grocery shoppers at Coles Stockland Plaza were presented with free reusable shopping bags last Friday, to encourage them to experience the benefits of using reusable shopping bags and reduce plastic bag consumption.

By Latrobe City Council - 17th December 2003 - Back to News

The two-hundred ‘Green Bags’ were part of six-hundred already presented to supermarket shoppers throughout Latrobe City by the Litter Prevention Taskforce, with a further four-hundred being distributed over the next few days.

Latrobe City Mayor and Chair of the Litter Prevention Taskforce, Councillor Graeme Middlemiss, said distribution of the ‘Green Bags’ was helping reduce the half-million plastic bags currently used by shoppers every week in the Latrobe Valley.

"Every day more and more customers are going through the supermarket checkouts using reusable bags as alternatives to plastic bags. There are no stereotype green shoppers, but they range from a single person calling into the supermarket on their way home from work and purchasing a few items to families with a trolley full of purchases doing the big weekly shop. They all have one thing in common though, and that is they care for their environment," Cr Middlemiss said.

Member of the Latrobe City Litter Prevention Taskforce and Manager Waste Services, Mike McCaughan said shoppers had been very responsive to the give-aways. "Numerous shoppers told us they had seen lots of people using reusable bags but hadn’t quite got around to purchasing one themselves. Those really were the shoppers we were targeting with our give-aways, because we know that once a shopper has tried reusable bags they will be impressed with the convenience factor, and will be helping the environment at the same time," Mr McCaughan said.

"Convenience is the key benefit shoppers using reusable bags are identifying. They find that when using their reusable bags their groceries purchases don’t roll all over the back seat of the car or around the boot, as they often do when packed in the plastic bags. They remain far more secure in transit.

"Bread remains unsquashed and bottles stay upright and are less likely to spill their contents. With reusable bags it is also far quicker and easier to transfer shopping from the supermarket trolley to their vehicle; and from their vehicle to the kitchen when home. As the reusable bags hold four or five times as much as a plastic bag, there are less journeys involved. It’s a far simpler process."

Stormwater Education Officer, Peter Collins, said every citizen could help reduce the number of plastic bags consumed in the Latrobe Valley by taking reusable bags with them when they go shopping. One reusable bag can replace up to five plastic bags every time we shop," Mr Collins said.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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