Didn't think we will ever see a plastic bag deal on OzB, Anyways
Went for groceries today at Coles. The plastic bags are gone which have now been replaced by the stronger larger recycled plastic bags (like the ALDI ones) which will cost 15c but they are being given for free at the moment.
Don't know till when this freebie will last
Checkout chick said it's nationwide, but according to some users it's Vic only
Which state? Haven't seen plastic bags in SA for years
Relax you've only just discovered fire, next is the wheel.
;) Actually, we got rid of plastic bags before Vic and nsw.
2009 to be exact. Strange when going interstate and being able to grab the old flimsy plastic bags for free
@Chickenleg:
they tried many years ago to ban plastic bags in vic ….was too too much push back so the stores brought them back in ….
I bet you have just as many throw away plastic trays that fruit and vegetables comes in though. That plastic in increasing all the time.
I'm from WA, what's this fire you speak of?
we were going to send some, but shipping is too expensive.
Victoria. I asked the checkout chick and she said it's nationwide
Had to pay for the 15c as per usual today in SA.
She might be wrong then. Ill update it to Victoria only
Same, and I bought 2 bags so they didn't cram EVERYTHING into 1 crushing my bread trying to save the frigg'n planet.
Also of note, the 99c Green Bags at Woolworths have a lifetime replacement warranty.
Really?! Will they take ones that were manufactured before "bag for good" labelling?
the one with "bag for good" words…
Bags witno "bag for good" is not good.
probably not ….the current green bags at woolies have woolies clearly across them and mention replacement vaguely ….this will be stop people using 3rd party green bags and trying to get them replaced.
coles has made no mention about the warranty if their bags so that people can be assured they will get the 300+ uses to get their money back ….
in the days leading up to woolies getting rid of the thin bags, they allowed free use of the 15c bags ….that has now stopped.
There was never free use of the 15c bags at our woolies.
@PVA:
Werribee Plaza Woolworths removed single use bags from their self checkout area prior to the cut off date when I questioned it was fed some BS about not having any stock yet the manual checkouts had plenty.
The handling of Woolworths single use bag phase out was crap. Could have easily given all Woolworths Rewards members a voucher to receive a few free 99c bags but chose not to. Yet the mongrels still feed us environmental BS whilst wasting docket paper printing coupons and sending out 40 page weekly catalogues when most people view them online these days.
These are probably the best quality "Green" bags on the market. The base of them allows to place items in nice and orderly without falling over everywhere. Plus, I managed to get 2.5 normal plastic bags of stock into 1 of these green bags. With the lifetime warranty on them, they're worth every 99 cents :)
And when you fold them back up, they crease up nicely.
Can I inherit it to my kids thus get an extra 99 years warranty benefit? Hehe
Definitely better than consumers’ statutory rights!
Will buy for the homeless guy. Once it breaks down or is disgusting, he can swap it for a new one
Probably because single-use plastic bag ban hasn't started yet for Coles, and they've stopped ordering the bags. Stores that have run out of bags are giving the 15c bags for free, so I assume that it will only last until 30 June.
The single use bags are all gone and these new white and red bags have replaced them currently at no cost even at self serve
So it would only be some stores fitting that scenario (that have run out of the traditional bags and chosen to provide the newer ones free).
Was there a sign up? Did you scan the bags at 0 cents?
no sign, i asked attendant at self serve checkout where the thin bags were, they said the 15c ones were free up to transition date.
Spot on youd imagine
At least Coles is doing the right thing until the end of the month. Unlike the mongrels at Woolworths Werribee Plaza tricking people into buying bags prior to the cut off date when the store still had single use plastic bag stock.
You set the date you better make sure you have enough bags to last that long or don't charge for the new ones until the date has passed. It's only fair!
What a time to be alive!
thats what the seabirds are saying
I think they’re free if the store has run out of single use bags, from July 1 they will be 15c each, but since it’s not July 1 yet and stores aren’t getting any new single use bags, if they run out they have to use the 15c bags instead and not charge for them
why cant the supermarket giants introduce paper bags
Because plastic is more profitable
"Fiction: Many believe that paper bags are more environmentally friendly than plastic bags because they are made from a renewable resource, can biodegrade, and are recyclable.
Fact: Plastic shopping bags outperform paper bags environmentally – on manufacturing, on reuse, and on solid waste volume and generation."
http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2011/dec/2…
Makes you wonder why the fuss, that pond has plenty of room.
@bargainhunter: people need to look at the qty that ends up in the ocean compared to qty made and country of origin ….
All of this environmental BS has nothing to do with Australia. If other countries could get their waste managment up to scratch we would see less pollution. It probably be more cheaper if Australia just gave foreign environmental aid so countries in our region could catch up to our level instead of throwing rubbish and waste into waterways etc.
You're certainly full of hate calling people 'mongrels' several times. You sound like a poorly educated right wing tabloid reader.
I hope the staff in Woolworths weren't subject to your abuse.
What qualifications do you have in the subject?
People are still going to put their rubbish into plastic bags after the 1st July (just thicker, bigger plastics bags they paid for instead) so the lake picture is misleading.
Is the problem the item or the person dumping it? Even without -any- supermarket bags that lake would be a dumping ground because of the people.
Even if I have to reuse my canvas bags 200 times for it to "outperform the plastic bag environmentally", it's like using it for only a half a year.
That (unintentionally, I believe) bizarre guy from Guardian is being cited all over the shop now that Colsworth are phasing out the bags. It's like saying "disposable cutlery outperforms the stainless steel one, because it takes a mine and smelter to make a spoon. And you can just chuck the plastic one out after use, no hassle".
Whitewashing plastic bags, unfcukingbeliveable.
Fabric bags (traditional canvas, cotton, hemp, etc) aren't such an issue if disposed of (even with fewer uses) as they break down with less environmental issues compared to the main supermarket offering now of thicker plastic bags incl the "green" ones. People who care will do the right thing as they did before and reuse and recycle (incl soft plastics).
People will still throw away their garbage in plastic bags except now they just be bought, thicker, bigger ones offer a roll to last longer in landfill (or anywhere else people want to dump). I know in my household more plastic will go to landfill because of this (the rest gets recycled as it always had).
Paper is made from trees
Thanks for letting us know. ;)
Apparently I read somewhere that it uses more energy to make the paper bags.
What I don’t get is the thicker plastic bags may last longer but then if it gets chucked out .. will it be in landfil for longer??
It takes way more energy to take those plastic bags off the trees and ponds they end up in.
The landfill is 'less' of a problem than wildlife damage. The thinner ones get into the ocean etc more easily and are more readily ingested by fish/birds.
Is this even a bargain? You paid $0 for a bag before, and you're paying $0 now. Savings $0.
You paid $0 for so called single use plastic bags before, they are not available anymore. You will be paying 15c for these recycled large strong plastic bags from a certain date. You already pay for these at Aldi and Woolies. At the moment, they are free. So I believe it makes this a deal
It is not a bag, but THE reusable bag which has moral high ground. Although I believe most people will use it for only once.
It's a different bag. More reusable.
Price will be 15 cents each next week.
It’s a premature bargain
Greensborough (Vic) Coles still has the single use plastic bags. Didn't see anything about the 15c bags being free.
Which store did you visit, OP?
Some Woolies run pit of plastic bags 2 weeks ago, and started to sell these bags for 15c each
Grabbed 2kg of plastic bags today from coles (yes i weighed them)
did you also scan the bags or just weigh and take ….. i tried to scan but nothing came up.
if people have dogs you need them, if you live in apartment you need bin liners ….yeah, future is 10c per bag from the plastic bag section …..
Many people have been hoarding them since 6 mths ago.
I believe as long as it isn't exposed to sunlight, it could last longer so probably buying yourself at least 1 year stock given it is reusable (that is, fold the used plastic bag into origami size and then put in pocket next time you shop).
as long as it isn't exposed to sunlight,
Yeah I reckon about a year in the cupboard before they disintegrate.
I never thought I'd upvote a plastic bag lol, but there we go.
Woolies was doing a buy 3 get 2 free a few days ago but not sure if it's still going.
Coles aren't technically starting the bag ban until Sunday 1st July… I can only assume these are free because it is not yet the 1st July so it'd be wrong to start charging for them now because they decided to remove the single use ones already.
Do you know what they're going to put online orders in?
You can choose to pay for the bags or they unload everything into your kitchen.
Oh well, gives me a good reason to not buy anything online from them.
These should be free for at least a year during the transition period. They'd spent millions on the single-use bags for years and years, so giving them away for free for a year wouldn't hurt…
That wouldn't help the problem of overuse of plastic bags.
What overuse?
The supermarkets aren't doing this for the environment, if they actually cared they wouldn't sell "kid's bananas" on a polystyrene tray and covered in plastic.
Or Apples in a plastic tennis ball tube.
"Kid's bananas" are free when you walk into Woolworths stores.
Indeed. Why can they not just tell their suppliers the parameters around their preference for packaging has changed, to do things like include as a major importance, sustainable materials, minimal to no use of plastic, etc.
I guess this is too hard for a multi-billion dollar company who for years has proven it can only encourage the gratuitous use of plastic packaging across all product lines, and distribute disposable bags by the billion.
The reason they are using single use bags is because they have to change the checkout areas to flow better without the abuse of plastic bags, as they do in Harris Farm and Aldi, etc.
In Woolies last night, all those expensive stainless steel bag turnstiles were going unused, in fact, were just getting in the way of a fast checkout. How hopeless can these companies get, rolling out refits and equipment before such changes arrive that only have to be removed afterwards. Did they even imagine how many bags each of those things would be sending into the rubbish and the sea, or what damage all this does to their brand equity?
Not free at Warragul vic Coles. Staff and manager have no idea what we were talking about. :(
Don't they actually degrade worse than regular plastic bags? Anyway, at least it's encouraging people to bring their own bag… hmm or is it? smart people save 15c, others will pay…
plastic still available in NSW, triple bagging to stock up for lean times..
Not free at tunstall square Doncaster
Not free at Tarneit
Definitely not free =(
Just saw on the news- Due to backlash from customers, Woollies are giving away the 15c bags for free until 8 July.
Wow did I cop a backlash from the register lady at woolies this morning "you people only want it when it is free"
"Bloody hell, they are only 15 bloody cents- you people are unbelievable!" "you have a blue bag there with you"
end quote.
I replied - "they are free,I better stock up!"
rudest check out lady I have encountered in a while, I felt like going back for a second bag.
"Sorry I don't trust these new bags yet, I humbly request double bagging."
Coles was still charging 15c in Coles Doncaster VIC.
Wife just told me Coles had the insulated bags noted as special $2.50. Oddly she said they were only $1 previously. Coles trying to make up for all the free bags they have to give away.
They were never $1
@ca6leguy We believe they were once. Maybe b4 all this bag debacle started. Still a rip at 2.50
![[VIC] Free Recycled Plastic Bags (Was 15c) @ Coles](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/73/387573.jpg?h=f896be8b)
May I ask where this was?