The Boomerang Alliance, an environmental group that represents over 50 environmental and government organisations have criticised Coles new reusable bags made from plastic marine waste as a “not genuinely reusable.”
Though he welcomed the high recycled content of 80 percent recycled plastic and 20 percent marine plastic waste in the Coles bags, he cautioned that the shopping bag’s increased thickness of 55 microns does not make the bags more reusable and are at “best used a few times” with the majority littered or dumped into landfill.
“A reusable shopping bag should be reusable for its primary purpose—carrying shopping,” said Hutcheon.
“We’re proud to be providing practical and convenient shopping bags which make it easier for our customers to shop while supporting a circular economy for plastic bags and packaging,” said Thinus Keeves, Coles’ Chief Sustainability, Property and Export Officer.
The new recycled bags are made from plastic collected through Cole’s REDcycle soft plastic collections and once the shopping bags are at the end of their lifespan, these bags are also encouraged to be dropped off at the REDcycle plastic collection points.
This new initiative along with Coles’ strategy to roll out reusable mesh produce bags made from 90 percent recycled material and freshly produced bags made from 50 percent recycled plastic is predicted to reduce Coles’ use of virgin plastic by about 130 tonnes each year.
However, the Boomerang Alliance suggested Coles take “genuine” action in their plan by “introducing shopping bags that pass that test and phasing out the wasteful bags.”
The association also proposed a national shopping standard for reusable bags, calling for all bags not to be priced with “no free bags made from any material” and urged all states that have announced intentions of phasing out plastic bags to take on this standard.
“It is the surest way to get rid of problematic single-use and disposable plastic bags and eliminate plastic litter and waste.”
