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[NSW/VIC/QLD/WA] Free Reusable Plastic Bags (Were $0.15) @ Coles

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[NSW/VIC/QLD/WA] Free Reusable Plastic Bags (Were $0.15) @ Coles
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pennypincher98 on 05/07/2018 - 17:42 coles.com.au (1888 clicks)
Last edited 02/08/2018 - 10:38 by 4 other users

Just went to the self serves at Coles, scanned the bag and saw it come up free

Coles offer -$0.15

Asked the checkout assistance lady and she says take as many as you want while they are free. Saw one bloke who must be an Ozbargainer take 10-15 yet only bought bread and milk :D

Not sure if nationwide - scan the bag and see if it deducts the 15c. Maybe a Coles rep could chime in here?

My 100th post, kind of sad that it had to be this though :P

From Coles website

Until Sunday July 8, if you forget your reusable bags we’ll provide complimentary reusable Coles Better Bags at every Coles and at Coles Online in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. Excludes Coles Express.

Update: Extended indefinitely. (Thanks crazycs)

Now that this has been extended indefinitely, please try and remember your bags or at least reuse them. Don't just chuck them out, if you have too many you can recycle them at Coles.

Updated Update: Coles to end free plastic bags Aug 29…maybe.

Groceries Plastic Bag

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closed Comments

        • miicah on 01/08/2018 - 13:17

          @smigglejiggle: The idea is to not buy them at all

        • pformag on 01/08/2018 - 13:18

          @miicah: Then there should be a total ban on plastic bags, not this half-arsed effort, that is worst.

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 14:11

          @smigglejiggle:

          True

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 14:13

          @smigglejiggle:

          It encourages people to think twice about having a mass of bags sitting around then throwing them out….was meant to be a transition but no one anticipated the whining of people about it

    • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 10:40
      +6

      Why can't Aussies get on board like many of the European nations have (and SA)? Sad day for mother nature.

      Because there are simply too many redneck, conservative Australians who can never accept change.

      The days of when people looked at Australians with respect and admiration are long gone. We now are viewed as a lazy, fat and ignorant culture. Unfortunately this is pretty accurate. Compared with Europeans in general, we don't like change, especially when it means effort.

      • pformag on 01/08/2018 - 13:07
        -1

        or the fact they see it as a money-making initiative that is worst for the environment. ie, Bin Liner sales in SA households has increased from 15 per cent to 80 per cent since the ban

        • mickeyjuiceman on 01/08/2018 - 13:33
          +5

          From 15 percent to 80 percent of what?

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 13:58

          Bin Liner sales in SA households has increased from 15 per cent to 80 per cent since the ban

          Interesting, can you quote that?

          I don't think it's a money making initiative, it's a world wide trend related to environmental concerns and generally pushed by the government bodies. There are laws pushing for and implementing these measures.

        • pformag on 01/08/2018 - 16:40
          -1

          @Mic Cullen: The figures are behind a journal article, but for the NT, NT Environment Protection Authority found the number of bin liners bought by consumers ballooned from about eight million before the ban to about 22.2 million.

          The figures meant that overall, about 10 million fewer bags have been used since the ban was introduced.

          However, because re-usable bags are up to five times thicker than the lightweight ones they replaced, it was not possible to say whether less plastic is ending up in the landfill.

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 18:02

          @smigglejiggle:

          The figures are behind a journal article

          No they aren't. The figures you copied are word for word from an ABC article. The report is attached underneath that article

          "……showed that while single-use plastic bags decreased by 45 per cent after the government’s ban, the sale of bin liners increased by 65 per cent, as 80 per cent of consumers purchased the bags"

          "…..plastic waste to landfill reduced by 36 per cent in the two years after the ban from May to October 2013"

      • The Wololo Wombat on 01/08/2018 - 14:15
        +1

        lol slipperypete, idealism, judgement lack of thought.

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 17:44

          yep a big judgmental generalisation but sadly still a lot of truth in it

  • chumlee on 01/08/2018 - 10:11
    +9

    Wesfarmersis about to demerge Coles so this is nothing more than a marketing stunt to ensure customers continue to do large shops and not reduce their basket size of purchases due to not having enough bags. Wesfarmers wants to ensure maximum value for the IPO

    • puka on 01/08/2018 - 10:19

      hit the nail on the head chumlee.

    • MementoMori on 01/08/2018 - 10:24

      Wouldn't this decrease basket size?

  • FireRunner on 01/08/2018 - 10:18
    +6

    Lol, this “bag-ban” has done the exact opposite to helping the environment.

  • MementoMori on 01/08/2018 - 10:20
    +3

    Whilst in Australia we collect dispose of our waste in an environmentally friendly manner… 90% of the plastic in the Ocean comes from just 10 rivers - located in India, China and Africa.

    https://www.google.com.au/search?q=90+of+plastic+from+10+riv…

    • unelectric on 01/08/2018 - 10:21
      +3

      Guess we're off the hook then. Pollute away people!

      • MementoMori on 01/08/2018 - 10:26
        +1

        There is a balance of convenience - not to mention we could be worse off with these 'thicker' bags.

        i.e. biodegradable bags with the waste managed responsibly.

        You realise that even by breathing you are destroying the environment?

        • unelectric on 01/08/2018 - 10:33
          +2

          Yes, being alive is bad for the environment. Short of killing myself I am trying my best to reduce my impacts on this world.

        • Pantagonist on 01/08/2018 - 11:01

          You realise that even by breathing you are destroying the environment?

          Why, because we exhale carbon dioxide?

          Pretty sure every plant in the world would die if there was no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which means we would shortly shuffle off this mortal coil as well.

          The issue is the amount of it (as well as other gases like methane). It's all a question of balance. If we emitted less carbon dioxide so that the total percentage used up through photosynthesis was greater, there would be less of a warming effect.

        • MementoMori on 01/08/2018 - 11:04
          +1

          @Nomadesque: I mean to say even just by existing… and where do we draw the line?

          I think with the good waste management we have here in Australia we can use things like biodegradeable bags to make our life easier.

          If you want to save the ocean from plastic - wouldn't people's energy be better spent by getting up in the faces of the people who are dumping 90% of the plastic into it??

        • MementoMori on 01/08/2018 - 11:27

          @phosphoresce: OK sure, I agree - a great way to go.

          So, of these two activities you could invest your finite emotional energy and to create the most positive change would it be better to:

          1. Hassle 24,000,000 people about using plastic bags?
          2. Or say, 1,400,000,000 people (China) or 1,300,000,000 (India) about their population impact and significately worse plastic waste practices?
        • Pantagonist on 01/08/2018 - 16:11
          +2

          @domcc1: Well, we can probably draw the line at accepting that there are two types of life on this planet - ones that create net waste and ones that use that waste for energy.

          As I said, it's a question of balance rather than postulating whether we should all commit mass suicide because we produce waste. That kind of extremist scaremongering gets us nowhere.

          As for China, their government has been attempting to address plastic bag use with varying success (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6167). They are a country with a population 52 times our own with fairly stark divisions in social classes across that population. If their own government is only having limited success, do you really think activists in Australia with no legal ability to make anyone in China do anything are going to have much luck?

          Probably worth noting that this bag stuff that is going on right now in NSW has nothing to do with government legislation, so we're actually behind what China are doing in this regard. Better to sort out issues in our own back yard before meddling with other countries.

      • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 10:26
        +1

        On the way to 'buy' more free bags.

  • Sage on 01/08/2018 - 10:25

    Always been free.
    Bad for environment to encourage using these.

  • easternculture on 01/08/2018 - 10:26
    -1

    They will probably make up for the losses by increasing the prices of most common items bought by a few cents

    • harro112 on 01/08/2018 - 11:16

      they'll make up for the loss because people will buy more stuff

  • matt1234 on 01/08/2018 - 10:29

    Almost half of Australia have had this bag ban for ages now, are they going to refund all of my 15c bags for the last few years lol

  • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 10:31
    +3

    Finally sanity prevails. I am now using more plastic than ever before with these thicker bags being free.

    Hilarious.

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 10:35
      +1

      My car boot if full of them.

      I'm addicted to collecting them.

      I love the texture and don't miss the only grey ones.

      • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 10:38

        I'm with you. I am grabbing thousands of these to use as bathroom bin liners.

        Bravo Coles. Free garbage bags is a nice way to repay customers for insulting our intelligence pretending banning plastic bags was somehow going to help the environment.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 10:42

    Take your own reusable bags ya muppets.

    South Australian

    Like Coles are going to lose money?! They just put prices of everything else up.

  • s3n on 01/08/2018 - 10:53
    +3

    I wanted to negative vote it but in the Ozbargain spirit I thought I'd whinge and still not negative vote rather than having my negative vote cancelled because I'm too negative

    So for my whinge: I use plastic bags for bin bags so what's the point when I need to buy some bin liners instead of using the supermarket bags? Isn't the end result the same?

    • wiltonson on 01/08/2018 - 11:08
      +1

      I'm in the same frustration as you. I am now buying plastic bin liners instead of recycling those used grey shopping bags as my kitchen/toilet liners. I thought it's even more damaging to environment to buy special bin liners just to collect rubbish, but I guess not everyone want the risk of leaking shopping bags filled with rubbish from the kitchen bin.

    • spaceflight on 01/08/2018 - 12:46

      If you get 10 single use plastic bags in a week do you use all of them that week? Probably not…

      If you use reusable bags and only 1 bin liner that's 9 bags reach week that are not being thrown away.

      • s3n on 01/08/2018 - 16:52
        +2

        10 absolutely - probably use 20 per week

        I have a small stockpile of them but with two young kids going through nappies I use most of them

        With both young kids plus the in laws we get pretty low but then we buy more stuff for more people so it evens out

        I never needlessly throw plastic bags away

    • miicah on 01/08/2018 - 13:19
      -2

      You can line your bin with newspaper (hopefully find a stack outside the newsagent or from a school). Also there is no way you use as many bags as 'bin liners' as you actually take home from the shops.

      • mickeyjuiceman on 01/08/2018 - 13:35
        +3

        No I can't. Yes I did. Well done on being comprehensively and arrogantly wrong.

      • idonotknowwhy on 01/08/2018 - 13:53

        You can line your bin with newspaper

        How wasteful and barbaric! Think of the trees, invest in a smartphone!

      • s3n on 01/08/2018 - 16:57

        We get pretty close to be honest - maybe it's because we have kids and sometimes a larger than normal household

    • whirlpool_guy on 01/08/2018 - 21:08

      It's a valid point, @s3n. I now source my plastic bags from the logo fruits & vegs, local butchers

  • ClintonL on 01/08/2018 - 11:02
    +2

    Looks like i'm only shopping at Coles now.

  • silverrat23 on 01/08/2018 - 11:09

    The free bags will end today, hence the highlighted deal on the front page (I presume).

    • c0balt on 01/08/2018 - 11:15

      It's because it got extended indefinitely, but was actually a new development and someone posted a new deal on it that was removed in error.

      After someone posted a new bargain on it, it got 100 upvotes and 20 downvotes with a lot of arguments in the comments section. After many arm-chair totalitarians reported the post, the mods didn't want the conflict on the front page so they removed the post and merged it with this.

      Then the mods realised they may have annoyed the 100+ people who upvoted that deal shortly after it was posted, so this is now highlighted on the front page.

    • Moderatorscrimshaw on 01/08/2018 - 11:38

      It was highlighted because there is an update to the 'terms' of the deal. Basically it changed from a time limited thing to a long running deal.

      Reminder: you can see all long running deals here.

  • Yaren24 on 01/08/2018 - 11:12

    N I C E

  • RocketSwitch on 01/08/2018 - 11:21
    +3

    lol, people need to be more passionate about other issues than bags… got to love humanity!

    • unelectric on 01/08/2018 - 12:00
      +1

      If we can't tackle issues as simple as bringing your own bag then how do you think we'll fare with complex problems?

      • RocketSwitch on 01/08/2018 - 12:46
        +1

        Seriously, I have no more confidence in the human race, not that I had much of any before, but this just confirms it.

  • Cheap Steve on 01/08/2018 - 11:34
    -7

    Plastic bags, cage eggs, firearms. These are all auto neg votes from me.

    • Yaren24 on 01/08/2018 - 11:48

      What you gona do then?

      • sitdowndisco on 01/08/2018 - 11:50

        Neg the post

      • c0balt on 01/08/2018 - 11:51

        He will keep virtue signalling until it's no longer cool like all the other sheep.

    • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 13:22

      Let me guess. You're an extremely emotional, irrational greens voter?

  • lawyerz on 01/08/2018 - 11:51
    +1

    Oh my god, I just wish Coles would grow a spine and stick with the ban. I can't believe how much debate this has created.

    I'm sure their decision is motivated by profits from people like "Looks like I'm only shopping at Coles now"

    For the love of god its a plastic ban, bring your own bags. It's not that hard and its 15c if you forgot them.

    • taoz on 01/08/2018 - 12:04

      Have you shopped with young kids? Then got remember to make sure you load in stacks backs to your pram so you don’t run out…

      Coles wouldn’t change this unless there was slot of feedback from customers

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 12:52

      For the love of god its a plastic ban, bring your own bags.

      Not always possible.

    • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 15:21

      I can't believe how much debate this has created.

      I can.

      If a company makes a money saving decision and tries to disguise it as environmentalism, they will fail. Humans have proven time and time again they are smarter than company spin.

  • hellno on 01/08/2018 - 11:53

    430 people really like this back-flip??
    I hope that it just so they can swing by Coles and grab some free bags and then go and shop at Woolworths - on the very rare occasion they forget to bring their bags

  • wiltonson on 01/08/2018 - 11:54
    +2

    Coles is getting cheap free advertising by handing out their reusable bags. You'll soon see people shopping in Woolworths and Aldi with Coles bags.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 11:56
    +2

    Feed it to a turtle

  • sitdowndisco on 01/08/2018 - 11:57
    +3

    This whole debate boils down to whether people are getting free bag liners or not. That's it. Because without the bag liner argument, there is no debate.

  • IMadeYouReadThis on 01/08/2018 - 11:57
    +4

    Shame on Coles for doing it, they couldn't have made the worse decision. I feel bad about environment!

    • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 12:53
      +2

      The Coles/Wesfarmers Executives will fe High-5’ing whilst sea creatures choke on their filthy pollution

      • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 15:22
        -1

        90% of global ocean pollution comes from Africa and Asia. Not Coles or Woolies plastic bags.

        https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti…

        "Most of it is washed into the ocean by rivers. And 90% of it comes from just 10 of them, according to a study."

        "By analyzing the waste found in the rivers and surrounding landscape, researchers were able to estimate that just 10 river systems carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the ocean"

        "Eight of them are in Asia: the Yangtze; Indus; Yellow; Hai He; Ganges; Pearl; Amur; Mekong; and two in Africa – the Nile and the Niger."

  • Velocita on 01/08/2018 - 12:02
    +2

    I’m appalled, and appalled at the community. But a whole lot of people here are massive tight arses and couldn’t give a (profanity) about the environment, I’m genuinely not surprised.

    • xev on 01/08/2018 - 12:04
      +6

      Are you finished with that soapbox?

    • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 12:11
      +2

      I care about the environment by not eating meat, how about you?

    • idonotknowwhy on 01/08/2018 - 12:18
      +2

      Damn, you guys have drained my neg votes for the day. I was saving them for a fanboy war against Intel users next time a CPU got posted. I'll be back after I recharge.

    • LFO on 01/08/2018 - 15:09

      The environment? Plastic bags?
      How about those gigantic 4X4 diesel guzzlers at the shopping mall? Everywhere.
      OK for the environment?

      • sitdowndisco on 01/08/2018 - 18:59
        +1

        It's possible for both to be bad for the environment.

  • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 12:23
    +2

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coles-has-ba…

    "some customers told us they needed more time to make the transition to reusable bags”

    I know, it's a big, painful move. The traumatic damage from this transition will last for years if not handled delicately.

    It's a brave new world but let's ease into this gradually….think of the children

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 12:56

      I know, it's a big, painful move.

      I do lots of shopping without my car and don't carry reusable bags wherever I go. So this is good news for me…

      • IMadeYouReadThis on 01/08/2018 - 13:22
        +1

        So this is good news for me

        Good news for you is generally a bad news for rest of the OzB community JV

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 13:25

          Well, this is the exception then…

          You are getting something free, that you'd normally pay for…

        • IMadeYouReadThis on 01/08/2018 - 13:37

          @jv: They were always FREE, Coles never charged anyone a cent for these bags.

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 13:38
          +2

          @IMadeYouReadThis:

          They were always FREE

          and so they should stay…

          bags are part of their operational costs…

      • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 13:28

        yeah that's when it is handy….

        But having to pay 15c isn't going to break the bank and does encourage people to think whether it is worth to effort to think about taking a bag

        You said you have a trunk full. Maybe 15c per bag would reduce that. It would also make people think whether the horrendous trauma of carrying a few bags with them is worth the extra 15c cost per bag….at least that way it's a choice. Increase effort or pay a small amount

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 13:29
          +4

          free is free… regardless of how much you are saving…

          this is OzBargain, not OzGreenies…

        • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 13:40

          @jv:

          I do lots of shopping without my car and don't carry reusable bags wherever I go. So this is good news for me…

          yeah true, but it isn't a bargain if it means we pay elsewhere

          A reusable bag means less landfill and less environmental damage. The costs of producing and disposing of those plastic bags will be absorbed somewhere…

        • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 20:00

          "Increase effort or pay a small amount"

          This sounds like coming from ATO.

          Speaking about that…

          https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/a-mongrel-bunch-…

      • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 20:01

        JV for Premier!!!

    • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 20:02

      I am thinking of the children.

      Less money in my pocket means less ability to pay for their education and food. So no…. plastic bags should be free and part of operating cost.

  • cdaddy on 01/08/2018 - 12:29
    +4

    This is for the turtles!

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 12:54
      -1

      Do turtles shop at Coles?

  • sagitox on 01/08/2018 - 12:52
    +8

    This is just crazy. They warned us for ages that they were getting rid of the grey one time use bags, then they gave us an opportunity to take, it we forgot our reusable bags, to get 15c bags for free. People took advantage of their offer and now after weeks and weeks we should be more than prepared to remember to bring our own bags in, or if all else fails to buy bags (15c being the cheapest). Are people really that tight arsed? You buy 15c bags once and you’ll never forget your reusable bags again! So sad, Coles. Pretty weak if you ask me.

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 12:55
      +11

      This is just crazy.

      Why?. The bags are still reusable

      You are negging because they free. Your OzBargain account should be cancelled

      • sagitox on 01/08/2018 - 13:12
        +1

        OMG, jv! You are totally right! Could someone please cut up my OzBargain membership card? I don’t deserve it anymore….I’m a traitor. What was I thinking? :p

      • IMadeYouReadThis on 01/08/2018 - 13:25
        +2

        Your OzBargain account should be cancelled

        Coming from someone who has just come out of the penalty box.

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