Woolworths begins phase out of billions of single-use plastic bags, sets 20 June deadline

Supermarket giant Woolworths will stop handing out single-use plastic bags across all of its 995 Australian stores by 20 June.

The company gives out 3.2bn of these bags every year, but will instead be offering more robust plastic and canvas bags for a respective charge of 15 and 99 cents.

This places pressure on the likes of Aldi and Coles to follow suit, with the latter also committed to abolishing single use plastic carrier bags this year.   

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Twelve Woolworths stores across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have already scrapped them as part of a feedback gathering exercise.

Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said: “We feel very strongly this is the right thing to do, and that together with our customers we can help create a greener future for Australia.

“Our teams have been working hard behind the scenes to accelerate the rollout of this plan so we can start making a positive impact on the environment as quickly as possible.”

The upcoming national single-use plastic bag ban comes as Woolworths continues to trial the removal or reduction of plastic packaging in fruit and vegetables.