Australia Cuts 80% of Plastic Bag Use in 3 Short Months
Despite a few hiccups along the way, Australia's plastic bag consumption has dropped drastically.
Three months after two of the largest supermarket chains banned plastic grocery bags, an estimated 1.5 billion bags have been prevented from use, the Australian Associated Press reported, citing the National Retail Association.
Overall, the bans introduced by Coles and Woolworths last summer resulted in an 80 percent reduction in the country's overall use of the single-use item, the retail group revealed.
"Indeed, some retailers are reporting reduction rates as high as 90 per cent," National Retail Association's David Stout told the news service.
Initially, some customers felt "bag rage" about having to BYO-bag or fork over 15 Australian cents (11 cents) to buy a reusable one. Woolworths execs blamed slumping sales on "customers adjusting" to the plastic bag ban. Coles even briefly backed down on the bag ban and caught a lot of flak from environmentally conscious shoppers for giving away reusable plastic bags.
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