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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

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 13:26

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

          Who, sagitox ?

        • sagitox on 01/08/2018 - 15:34

          Hahaha gold!

        • sagitox on 01/08/2018 - 15:34

          @jv: Hahaha I don’t think so!

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 16:00
          -1

          @sagitox:

          Well it's not me so I've no idea what substance they're on…

  • lolmao on 01/08/2018 - 13:21
    +4

    Stupid, people won't reuse the "reusable" bags if they can get them for free

    • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 13:29

      Good point….The idea of charging 15c make it slightly more reusable. If it's free then well………

    • LFO on 01/08/2018 - 15:04

      Yes, they probably will reuse.
      Some people have strong principles against waste, regardless of the price paid.

      • slipperypete on 01/08/2018 - 15:24
        +2

        unfortunately that isn't the case. Just read the comments people have posted here with their views.

        Some people sure…..however, that is a reason to put a price on them. Just 15c makes it more likely they won't just get accumulated and dumped….unfortunately too much screaming and whining put an end to that

        Just one article about them

        "A third of us use plastic bags as bin liners. Another third re-use them for shopping. But eventually, more than 98% end up in landfill. About 200million litter the countryside"

        • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 19:53
          +2

          15c x 4 bags per shop = 60c. 2 visits per week (family) = $1.20 per week.

          Add the liners you now would have to buy at this price: $3.10 for 30 packs.

          https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/229796/mul…

          Assume 5 bags if you have 5 home bins, you would have to replace at least once every 5 days. That's $3.10 per 30 days.

          365 days / 30 days = 12x you would have to buy this liner. $3.10 x 12 = $37.20 per annum. Add $1.20 x 52 weeks = $62.40 for grocery shopping.

          Total cost $100 per annum rounded up after tax. Before tax, this would be roughly $135 (average Australian pays 25% tax) before tax.

          Minimum wage per hour is $18.93. So you would have to work 7 hours just compensate for this additional cost of living.

          Even if you want to use after tax figure of $100. That would buy:

          1. Don Don Chicken Teriyaki Rice for $8 max. That's 12 bowl of food to keep you going; OR
          2. At least 4 cans of Kari Care Baby Formula to feed your baby; OR
          3. At least 2 to 4 weeks of petrol to keep you mobile so you can go to work.

          You guys complain about cost of living. So if you agree with this plastic ban, you have no right to complain about rising cost of living such as higher power price because you are willing to pay for so-called "single-use" bags when it is nothing like single use AND Australia doesn't contribute to global plastic pollution.

        • Wuffybrother on 01/08/2018 - 23:57
          +1

          @burningrage:
          I can understand your reasoning, but to be fair you have opted for worst-case scenario here.

          Why would you buy new 15c bags every shop if you aren't stockpiling them for bin liners? (In which case you wouldn't be buying bin liners in addition).

          If money is a concern, you should be buying the 99c ones that Woolworths state they will replace for free if damaged. Let's buy 3x as many as we need (based on 4 bags per shop) just in case we lose some or want spares. $0.99 x 12 bags = ~$12.

          We'll still buy bin liners for the sake of comparison: $3.10 for 30 pack, keep the 5 bins, replace every five days, $3.10 per 30 days.

          So far: $3.10 x 12 = $37.20, + $12 bags = $49.20.

          We'll add the tax (25%) and come to a total of ~$62.

          So, with the same maths, that's 3 hours of work to pay that off (per year). Or 4 hours if you use every 15c bag only once and then stockpile it for bin liners.
          And that's on minimum wage (we should probably use average income if we've gone with average tax, but I digress).

          And to address the last part of your post:

          Australia doesn't contribute to global plastic pollution

          Not quite. I have explained the details of this study twice in these comments so won't repeat myself but here's the link: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.…

          Even going by the study that I have seen posted several times https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti… if you actually look at the source, open the data spreadsheet (see the supplementary data) and find Australia, you'll see Australia does in fact contribute to global plastic pollution. Of course we are not on the same magnitude as many developing countries with limited waste infrastructure and lower education levels, but to say we don't contribute is factually incorrect.

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 14:49
          +1

          "A third of us use plastic bags as bin liners. Another third re-use them for shopping. But eventually, more than 98% end up in landfill.

          I mean, yes. Where do you think bin liners end up?

        • burningrage on 02/08/2018 - 18:02

          @Wuffybrother:

          Thank you for the reply.

          Australia doesnt materially contribute to the issue thats what I meant.

          And even $60+ it is still a cost. We are happy to pay this but disturbed with higher power price. To add to that, what will be next? Paper?

          Already paying with your own money cost money. A car park I noticed charged 2.44% eftpos (not cc).

          To what point are we continue to absorb this higher cost of living? And to what degree benefit to the global enviroment that we are doing this?

    • 11112007 on 01/08/2018 - 18:38

      Hard for me to reuse the bags when heaps get destroyed after the first use.

      Checkout dude put 6 bottles of sparkling and a bottle of detergent in one bag, snapped as I got to the car!

  • WatchNerd on 01/08/2018 - 13:34

    Thanks for taking the time to post this Op, the deal just got better now that the reusable bags are free for longer.

  • harveyworld on 01/08/2018 - 13:39
    +3

    If the policy is to ban plastic bags then do so… but please don't introduce free Coles plastic throw away gimmicks as a replacement. It makes a mockery of the whole plastic/landfill debate.

    Personally, I find I am shopping less as I tended to call in and impulse buy whilst having an evening walk so now I don't bother as I can never remember my reusable bag.

    Happy Days….

  • carlJack on 01/08/2018 - 13:48

    This is a step backwards

    • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 19:40
      +3

      No. It makes total sense. Australia doesn't contribute to the plastic pollution.

  • Lancerx on 01/08/2018 - 14:22

    Totally defeat the purpose of plastic ban, possibly made it worse.

    Shame on them for using plastic bag to win back market share!

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:41
      -1

      Totally defeat the purpose of plastic ban

      When exactly was plastic banned ?

  • whirlpool_guy on 01/08/2018 - 14:48

    Negging this "deal" after reading about Coles giving away free bags indefinitely

    • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 19:39
      +4

      Plussing this "deal" after reading about Coles continuing with providing the reuseable plastic bag.

      • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:43
        +2

        I reused mine today for the first time !!!

        Supporting Coles for not forcing me to pay for them… Good to know I can get more for free if they break, if I forget, or if I need to stop at the supermarket and I don't have my car…

        +ve from me too…

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:42

      Coles giving away free bags indefinitely

      They've been doing it since 1914.

      Nothing has changed…

  • lost in transit on 01/08/2018 - 14:50

    Pay, Don't Pay, Pay, Don't Pay….wtf

    • rompastompa on 02/08/2018 - 15:24

      back to pay..

      Tune in next week to see what happens next!

  • LFO on 01/08/2018 - 15:01
    +9

    What is of real concern with this experiment is that one group (my_own_bag) insist in commanding the other group YOU MUST DO THIS OR ELSE!

    The my_own_bag group should continue doing what they are doing. Happy and proud. Satisfied of their contribution. Of their consciousness.
    Of whatever.

    But please don't tell others what to do … otherwise others will tell you what to do as well. And it will be chaos.
    Thank you.

    • sarasani on 02/08/2018 - 01:06

      I can see where you're coming from. You just want to keep on doing whatever it is you want to do. Got it.

      So where do you draw the line? Should we all just be able to do whatever it is we feel like doing? What about not paying tax? Playing loud music any time of day or night? Smoking in restaurants? How about I just dump all my plastic bags straight into the river in front of my house? Should I be able to do all of those things 'cause I don't want to be told by other people?

      Of course I can't do those things. Because other people have agreed that I can't do those things — irrespective of what I want to do. Sometimes we have to do what others have decided for us — whether we like it or not. It's the price we pay for living in societies on a planet inhabited by billions. Rules are generally made to prevent chaos. Not promote it.

      • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 14:51
        -1

        I feel I have the right to tell you to never buy anything that's "Made in China". Because you know, pollution and shit.

        You gonna follow that?

        • sarasani on 02/08/2018 - 16:48

          I fail to see the logic in your argument.

          Your proposition: Person A has the right to tell Person B what to do.

          My proposition: Persons A-T have the right to tell Persons U-Z what to do.

          See the difference?

  • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 15:27
    +7

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

    90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers

    Over the last decade we have become increasingly alarmed at the amount of plastic in our oceans.

    More than 8 million tons of it ends up in the ocean every year. If we continue to pollute at this rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

    But where does all this plastic waste come from?

    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.

    • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 15:27
      +2

      Hint: It's not bags from coles or woolies polluting the oceans…..

      • DemocracyManifest on 01/08/2018 - 17:52
        -1

        Yeah its remarkably straws and heaps of other shit the sooner we incinerate it the better

        • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 18:13
          +1

          But not from Australia…..

    • Wuffybrother on 01/08/2018 - 19:42
      +4

      I don't quite understand the point you are trying to make here.

      Clearly, less developed countries with much larger (and denser) populations and limited waste management systems will pollute more plastic waste than Australia.

      If you are trying to infer that Australia does not contribute any plastic (bags or otherwise) into the ocean, then you only need to look as far as the data for the study you've linked to see that's not the case.

      • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 19:57
        +2

        The point is pretty clear. If you want to clean up the oceans, banning plastic bags in Australia does next to nothing. It reenforces the fact that the ban is nothing more then an environmental publicity stunt - if you believe it does anything for the environment you are simply delusional.

        • Wuffybrother on 01/08/2018 - 22:30
          +5

          I don't think the way Coles/Woolworths has implemented it has been beneficial either. There needs to be systemic change surrounding our use of single-use plastics rather than simply replacing thin bags with slightly thicker bags.

          But I hope you don't actually believe that 'banning plastic bags does next to nothing' because Australia isn't amongst the world's worst polluters based on what you linked above. We may not be able to reduce plastic pollution by much globally, but how much of an impact do you think it would make in Australia? Spoiler: most of the plastic in Australian waters originates in Australia, and soft plastics (i.e. packaging and plastic bags) are the second most common plastic type in our ocean. Australia has levels of plastic pollution on par with just about any other marine area across the world. Here's the study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.…

          I can respect that you disagree with the plastic bag ban, but to say 'it's not our bags contributing 90% of the waste so it doesn't matter' is misinformed to put it lightly.

        • j4ck on 02/08/2018 - 09:11
          +1

          @Wuffybrother:

          Well said!

        • Skramit on 02/08/2018 - 10:45

          @Wuffybrother:

          My point stands though and not sure what you are trying to argue against. Study shows 90% of plastic waste in oceans comes from Asia and Africa from 10 rivers - do you disagree? Of the remaining 10%, Australia will be such a tiny contributor, so this whole exercise is very much "next to nothing".

          Sure it makes you feel good but the reality is you're not saving the dolphins.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 11:20
          +1

          @Skramit:

          I am trying to argue against your misconception that since we're not responsible for 90% of plastic waste entering the ocean from rivers in Asia and Africa (yes I agree with your study, it's fine), somehow means that banning plastic bags will have no impact. Nobody is claiming that banning plastics in Australia will somehow fix the world's ocean plastic pollution. Why would we as a highly developed nation with 0.03% of the world population?

          Did you read my comment? It's nothing to do with making a big dent in global ocean plastics. It's about reducing plastic pollution in Australia, home to the Great Barrier Reef and highest marine biodiversity on the planet? You might be able to argue that Australia's marine plastic pollution is globally relevant if all of our plastic that entered the ocean headed out to sea, but most of our marine plastics remain close to their origin for a significant time anyway.

          By your logic, we could release barrels of oil into the GBR and dump a ton of radioactive waste off a remote beach and it wouldn't matter because it wouldn't be measurable on a global metric. Do you understand my point? Just because something isn't in the 'world's top ten' doesn't mean it's not important locally.

        • Skramit on 02/08/2018 - 11:35

          @Wuffybrother:

          Nobody is claiming that banning plastics in Australia will somehow fix the world's ocean plastic pollution.

          Yes plenty are. Anyone, a few weeks ago, saying the ban is a shit idea was met with "BUT THE ENVIRONMENTS!!! THE OCEANS!!!111".

          I argue, fine the litterers, don't ban the modern human convenience where 99.9% of people were doing the right thing.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 11:50

          @Skramit:

          Sorry, bad word choice, I should have said 'I'm not' instead of 'Nobody is'. We can argue about semantics, but common sense would suggest that when people are talking about the 'environment' and 'oceans' in the context of an Australian ban on plastic bags they would mean the environments and oceans of Australia. Maybe not, I don't know how educated people are on the issue. But we're getting sidetracked by what other people may or may not mean to say.

          Anyway, change those two words and read my comment again. Do you see my point?

          I argue, fine the litterers, don't ban the modern human convenience where 99.9% of people were doing the right thing.

          We've been doing exactly this up until now. It hasn't worked very well. The Coles/Woolworths ban isn't the answer but the concept of banning single-use plastics (providing an alternative of course) is necessary.

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 14:53
          -2

          @Wuffybrother:

          most of the plastic in Australian waters originates in Australia

          Except "plastic in Australian waters" hasn't been shown to be a problem. Whenever you see poor sea life dead or mixed up in plastic, it's almost never "in Australian waters".

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 15:33

          @Wuffybrother:

          Yes really.

          https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X1…

          Our results indicate that further research is critical to understanding the extent of ingestion, colour preferences, and what impacts ingestion may have on these and other seabird populations in the GBR.

          So no known/observed impact.

          http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.…

          Turtles are ocean-going, and while the turtles used in this study were found on Qld beaches, nothing in the actual study actually says that the plastics ingested were ingested in Australian waters. The study also doesn't go into the prevalence of plastic ingestion, or the extent of the problem.

          You might as well point to an isolated traffic accident and argue that Australia has an traffic accident problem, when in fact we have some of the world's safest roads.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 16:03
          +1

          @HighAndDry:

          Fair call for the first study, needs more research to find out exactly what the impacts are, but there is in fact a known/observed impact: "Greater than 20% of wedge-tailed shearwaters chicks ingested plastic debris." They don't know what the exact impacts are yet but somehow I don't think it's beneficial to their health.

          Second - that's a fair criticism of the paper as well. There's no way to know exactly where the plastic was ingested.

          I'll again point to the original study I linked - http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.…

          Marine plastic pollution is as prevalent in Australia as in most other marine areas in the world, so it's not comparable to an isolated incident. We know Australian water has plenty of debris. It's consistent and proportional to our major population centres.

          So I'll ask you this - if we're finding wildlife in Australia who have ingested plastic, and we know there's similar levels of plastic pollution in our oceans compared to most other parts of the world, wouldn't the reasonable conclusion be that we're partly to blame? What makes our marine plastic pollution special that our wildlife would choose to exclusively dine on plastics in international waters and boycott all plastic pieces near Australia?

          If you have any credible sources that can validate your statement that plastic isn't an issue in Australian waters I would be happy to read them.

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 16:13

          @Wuffybrother: Oh I'm not saying Australian plastic is any better than say, Chinese plastic or Indonesian plastic. There's just far less of it to begin with. According to the CSIRO and other scientific bodies:

          https://blog.csiro.au/plastic-problem-a-global-solution/

          https://theconversation.com/eight-million-tonnes-of-plastic-…

          Around a third of this likely comes from China, and 10% from Indonesia. In fact all but one of the top 20 worst offenders are developing nations

          The one exception is the US. Australia makes up an almost negligible amount of plastic in the ocean.

          And even then, especially in regards to what that plastic is?

          http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/publications/impacts-pl…

          Derelict fishing nets dominate the types of plastic debris observed entangling wildlife.

          The most common items in the ingestion records are synthetic fishing line and hooks (especially in seabirds).

          It's not even plastic bags.

          So people go on and on about how banning plastic bags will cut some huge percentage of plastic bags being disposed of - only a percentage of that would've ended up in waterways and the ocean, which makes up only a small percentage of all plastic in the ocean, and of that only a small percentage of the impact is attributable to plastic bags.

          It's the old adage about lies, damned lies, and statistics. The "stats" people use to show plastic bags being this huge boogeyman is impressive, but in context? Australian plastic bags don't really register.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 17:23

          @HighAndDry: I am aware that on an international scale, Australia contributes a negligible amount of plastic into the ocean. We're largely not responsible for global oceanic pollution. We are responsible for a lot of plastic pollution of the oceans near Australia.

          Your link to the 'Impacts of Plastic Debris on Australian Marine Wildlife' is good but outdated. This is a 2009 report that combines a variety of sources (seems to be about 50/50 peer-reviewed to grey literature) from 1998 to 2007 (predominantly early 2000s). I know I keep linking the same study but it's for a good reason. All the data was collected from 2011-12 with using a consistent methodology and is peer-reviewed.

          http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.…

          Hard plastics were by far the most common plastic type found (75.4%), but soft plastics (e.g. fragments of plastic wrappers) and lines (mostly fishing lines) were also relatively common (16.5% and 6.4%, respectively).

          Yes, plastic bags are not the worst culprit, but they (together with other soft plastics) are responsible for 16.5% of plastic pollution in Australia's marine environment, the overall pollution levels of which I'll restate are no better than other marine areas:

          "Our overall mean sea surface plastic concentration (Cs) was 4256.4 pieces km−2, which is similar to mean values reported for other regions outside subtropical gyres, such the Caribbean Sea (mean Cs = 1414 pieces km−2) and Gulf of Maine (mean Cs = 1534 pieces km−2)."

          And the plastics are, at least on the East Coast of Australia, mostly our fault:

          "However, our data already indicate some spatial patterns: we observed high plastic concentrations close to Sydney and Brisbane cities. This suggests that plastics along Australia's east coast are mostly associated with domestic inputs."

          A plastic bag ban is the first step of many towards reducing plastic pollution that should eventually hopefully encompass most single-use soft (i.e. bags, packaging) and hard (i.e. bottled water, packaging) plastics.

          In any case, why shouldn't we be setting an example for developing countries to follow? If we can't even successfully ban/reduce single-use plastics in relatively wealthy, developed Australia, how can we tell developing countries to do any better?

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 17:45
          +1

          @Wuffybrother: I don't disagree that a disposable plastic bag ban will objectively help. But as with everything, it's not free and needs to be subject to cost-benefit analyses, which 1. haven't been done, and 2. has been subject to people greatly over-stating the harm of plastic bags and/or the benefit of such a ban.

          But consider this - with the convenience, monetary, and media/PR cost of the plastic bag ban, could we have done any number of other things which would have had far greater benefits for the environment? My view is yes, absolutely. Off the top of my head:

          1. Less plastic/other packaging for fresh produce and other products in supermarkets. Cost to consumers/supermarkets? Negligible other than lower sales (due to less places for marketing). Benefit to environment? Huge - for every disposable plastic bag, there's about half a dozen pieces of packaging.

          2. Greater plastic recycling efforts. Costs to taxpayers may be significant, but the benefits to the environment, in both decreasing disposal of plastic and in decreasing hydrocarbons used in production of new plastics would be significant.

          3. Just taking that money, and paying people to go pick up plastic bags and other rubbish. Cost would be the same, benefits would be far better than the current 'ban', which covers a small subset of a small subset of plastics overall.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 17:55
          +2

          @HighAndDry: Well said, I wholeheartedly agree. Would upvote twice if I could.

          I hope I haven't come across of defensive of the Coles/Woolworths ban (I think I stated earlier in the thread to Skramit how I feel about the ban) as I think it will make little difference, but something needs to be done to reduce our plastic use, in the oceans, waterways, cities, wherever. These are some great suggestions and any of the above would have been significantly better than what we have now. Hopefully we'll see some changes in the near future.

  • Jad on 01/08/2018 - 17:21
    +3

    Poor form Coles, very unimpressed.

    Also unimpressed with the East and West coasters… we’ve been single use plastic bag free in SA for almost 10 years. Get with the program!

    • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 19:36
      +1

      SA can continue to do whatever they want. I don't think people see SA as a role model considering their power debacle over there.

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:47
      +1

      Poor form Coles, very unimpressed.

      Why, because they are giving away reusable bags, rather than selling them ???

      You should be yelling 'Poor form' to those that don't actually reuse them…

      Coles have not reintroduced single use bags…

      • Jad on 02/08/2018 - 12:19
        +1

        Why, because they are giving away reusable bags, rather than selling them ???

        Well yes, that is what this bargain is for, correct?

        You should be yelling 'Poor form' to those that don't actually reuse them…

        Poor form! /to those that don't reuse their bags and get new ones every time simply because they are free.

        Coles have not reintroduced single use bags…

        I never suggested they did, but good straw man I guess…

    • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 14:54

      Good? When people actually want to move to SA for something other than uni degrees so they can live elsewhere in Australia, maybe you can talk.

  • DemocracyManifest on 01/08/2018 - 17:51
    +1

    Not good, they should have just stopped them for good to stop customers abusing staff by forcing a change and continued the extra flybuys points etc. Inevitably whenever they stop people will still complain.

    • Skramit on 01/08/2018 - 18:14
      +2

      People will still complain because it’s a dumb idea.

    • burningrage on 01/08/2018 - 19:38

      Complain is not an abuse. You are typical green who over exaggerate on all matters not going your way.

    • whirlpool_guy on 01/08/2018 - 21:05

      Backbone-less Coles can only see profit. F**k environment, if it hurts profit

      • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:48
        +2

        Cole haven't reintroduced single use bags, so your comment is ill-informed and stupid…

        You sound like one of those Greenie guys on Whirlpool…

        • whirlpool_guy on 01/08/2018 - 21:54

          Have one of those red and white Coles $0.15 bags in my hand. Honestly, I don't think they will last very long

          At the end of the day, they're still plastic bags. They'll end up in landfill one day, and stay in landfill for 100+ years

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:55
          +1

          @whirlpool_guy:

          They'll end up in landfill one day

          What % of landfill is reusable plastic bags ?

        • whirlpool_guy on 01/08/2018 - 22:17
          +1

          @jv: My point is Coles could have gone 100% plastic bag free at checkout. Instead they went with reusable plastic bags and now copping the PR backlash. Huge missed opportunity.

          Bags like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/GreenBag.jpg would last much longer and can be recycled

          Heck, there'd be no such backlash if Coles gave away brown paper bags!

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 22:20
          +2

          @whirlpool_guy:

          My point is Coles could have gone 100% plastic bag free at checkout.

          They are a business, owned by their shareholders who's primary goal is to make money…

          If they completely removed plastic bags (which they are in no way required to do), a very large percentage of their customers would just shop elsewhere…

        • jv on 01/08/2018 - 22:21
          +1

          @whirlpool_guy:

          Bags like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/GreenBag.jpg would last much longer and can be recycled

          Nobody is stopping you from using those bags at Coles…

        • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 07:03

          @whirlpool_guy:
          Why no backlash against Woolworths? They also selling these bags.

  • particle on 01/08/2018 - 21:17
    +2

    Got this in a Coles email again today, so while there's no longer a 15c punishment for being a bag short, there's still a 15c equivalent reward if you're not:

    "30 BONUS POINTS when you bring your own bags
    *To qualify for this offer you must present your flybuys card at the time of purchase and not purchase a reusable bag (including a complimentary Coles Better Bag)."

    • jv on 01/08/2018 - 21:52
      +2

      "30 BONUS POINTS when you bring your own bags
      *To qualify for this offer you must present your flybuys card at the time of purchase and not purchase a reusable bag (including a complimentary Coles Better Bag)."

      I found a Hack for this…

      Purchase one carrot and get a free bag.
      Re-enter the store 11 times with the reusable bag and purchase a single carrot each time…

      Result: Free re-usable bag and 11*30 = 330 Flybuy points for 12 carrots.

      (Will try the same thing tomorrow with grapes)

      • Skramit on 02/08/2018 - 10:47
        +2

        Tried this with 1g of almonds. Checkout lady stopped me from doing it.

        • burningrage on 02/08/2018 - 18:16

          ROFL! I want to try that too

      • IMadeYouReadThis on 02/08/2018 - 10:59

        I found a Hack for this…

        Looks great in theory but don't you get 30 points per day?

  • Yabadabadoo on 01/08/2018 - 21:28
    +3

    FYI this has nothing to do with the bags or people complaining. It's quite simple and similar to when some stores try to get rid of trolleys or charge for them. The issue is people think "i can't carry more and i don't want to buy lots of bags" so they buy less. If you know bags are free then it doesn't matter if you need 1 or 10 you can shop freely (aka spend more). Coles doesn't want the average price per shop to go down (down).

    Personally I think the bag ban is a joke. I don't know any one that puts bags in the bin, they always get used for rubbish/bin liners or wrapping stuff to take with you etc. The new bags will get used in the same way so all you do is replace thin bags with think ones that are 10 times worse for the environment. In my unit block the bins are full of the new bags used as bin liners. In Australia 15c is not enough to change peoples use of bags. They will just pay and use it the same way as before. Now if the cheapest bag was $1-2 then maybe people would bring there own bags but 15c is not worth the hassle for the vast majority.

    Ohh this also goes for nsw's stupid bottle tax. People aren't going to carry their empty can/bottle around all day when there out and about for 10c they will just chuck it as they did before. Again make it $1-2 a bottle and maybe they will. And as you can't crush them it really limits how many you can return in one go. A boot full is like $20 and 30min plus waiting on line then feeding then in the machine (plus the petrol and driving time to get there)

    • mmd on 02/08/2018 - 00:44

      Now if the cheapest bag was $1-2 then maybe people would bring there own bags but 15c is not worth the hassle for the vast majority.

      If the cheapest bag cost $1-2, they'll definitely lose market share as ALDI's cheapest bag is 15cents.

    • Skramit on 02/08/2018 - 10:48

      Spot on.

  • Yabadabadoo on 01/08/2018 - 21:36

    Answer is simple, get rid of the bag fee and the 10c bottle return scam and bring in a tax on all items (1-2c an item) and use the money to hire people to clean up beaches and water ways etc. Employs people that contribute their earnings back to society and directly cleans up the problem areas.

    How many beachs do you see with the bins over flowing ?? And they blame the people for rubbish getting in the ocean! Pay people to stop it getting in the ocean is a much better idea!

  • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 10:35
    +1

    29th August is when the free bags end at Coles.

  • Nugs on 02/08/2018 - 11:36

    should charge a $1

  • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 12:10
    -2

    Another backflip on the 29th because of the vocal minority…. ffs

    • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 12:21
      +5

      You mean the 71% 'minority'?

      • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 12:26

        n = 2200

        Hardly an accurate representation of the Australian population.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 12:41
          +5

          Uh yes it is, that's how surveys and statistics work?

          If you want a 99% confidence level with 5% margin of error for a population of 24 million (i.e. if you want to be within five percentage points of the real population value 99% of the time), the ideal sample size is 664 people. This is over three times as many people. I'd say that's more than representative.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 12:56

          @Wuffybrother:

          And what measures have they taken to avoid bias such as age groups, geographic state etc? Can you link me to the actual survey and not an SBS article?

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 13:14
          +3

          @nurries:
          Fair enough, here's a link with more details that breaks it down a bit more: https://www.canstarblue.com.au/groceries/agree-supermarket-p…

          If you're unconvinced, Woolworths did one of their own (75% support, n = 12500): https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/media/Latest_News/si…

          As did a government commissioned survey of WA Households (>77% support, n = 400 but methodology is crystal clear): https://www.der.wa.gov.au/images/documents/our-work/consulta…

          Pretty consistent results.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2018 - 13:21
          +1

          @Wuffybrother:

          Fair enough, thanks for the links. I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but if we were to take the upvotes and downvotes in this "deal", we would have a confidence level of 99% with a 6% margin for error which would technically say 96% of Aussies +- 6% support free bags. Would this be correct or am I missing something?

          EDIT: Had a quick read of those links you supplied and results are indeed consistent. I stand corrected.

        • King Steuart on 02/08/2018 - 14:00

          I logged out of Ozbargain yesterday morning in disgust at the comments. Just logged back in since Coles is doing the right thing again.

        • Wuffybrother on 02/08/2018 - 14:04

          @nurries:
          Maybe, I think we'd need more information. The main difference is that this deal reflects how many people support free reusable bags reduced from 15c. Whereas the surveys refer to how many people support a ban on single-use bags.

          The comments in this deal certainly seem to reflect that a majority here disagree with the ban as it stands, but in a bargain-hunting community it's not too surprising. Given that the ~75% statistic stands firm across multiple studies in different states, age ranges, whether by Woolworths, government survey, independent research etc. I think OzB's an outlier.

        • HighAndDry on 02/08/2018 - 14:57

          —-edited—-

        • burningrage on 02/08/2018 - 18:18

          @Wuffybrother:

          It is entirely possible they are surveying green belt electorates which means the result would skew that way

        • burningrage on 02/08/2018 - 18:23

          @Wuffybrother:

          Why dont just have a referendum? Stats can always be manipulated to produced a desired outcome.

      • 11112007 on 02/08/2018 - 15:53

        No surveys done since July 1, wonder how much has changed since then.

  • Sage on 02/08/2018 - 15:03

    Seriously what is this posting.
    It's a duplicate of https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/387573
    It only received 16 pos votes last time.

  • swordvish on 02/08/2018 - 17:18
    +2

    If you don't care for reusables or paying for single use bags, bad luck. State Governments, coles, woolies have chosen to go a certain way. You might not like it but hey… what are you going to do. Moan on here I guess.

    I really dislike how so many on here just ignore the ACTUAL issue (environmental concerns re: plastic) and instead just throw abuse at each other, Coles, South Australians etc.

    I've bought some awesome reusable box bags from Amazon and I'm happy to do my little bit, for whatever difference it makes.

  • burningrage on 02/08/2018 - 18:21
    -1

    I will continue to shop at Coles at least until end of this month. So far I spent zero on Woolies other than that Nintendocard discount.

    All Asian Groceries still provide bags so I just redirect some spending there and some to costco.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2018 - 07:33

      No bags at Costco either.

  • nizzkid on 02/08/2018 - 19:11
    -1

    Have not shopped at coles or woolworths since this bag scam begun.
    Shopped at coles today after yesterday's news. Will not shop there again after today's news!
    I pay for goods and services. I expect a bag for my goods as part of the service.

    • IMadeYouReadThis on 03/08/2018 - 08:47
      -4

      Have not shopped at coles or woolworths since this bag scam begun.
      Shopped at coles today after yesterday's news. Will not shop there again after today's news!

      Within a month Wesfarmer share prices have gone up by 7cents so as a shareholder, I thank you for not shopping there…

      • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2018 - 07:33
        -1

        Hope that has made you a millionaire.

  • 11112007 on 04/08/2018 - 09:54

    I've noticed that the Coles bag went from 'Made in Germany' to 'Made in Malaysia'

    Probably a reason why they could give them away for a bit longer.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/08/2018 - 00:45

    Free bags at Woolies again.…

    • daydream on 10/08/2018 - 15:30

      Where did you see that?

      • [Deactivated] on 10/08/2018 - 15:57

        Park Ridge Woolies Q,
        Once she realised I'd forgotten bags it was offered free.

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