• Background: Woolworths has removed single-use plastic shopping bags at all of its food stores, marking a key milestone in its strategy of zero-packaging waste to landfill.
• Description: Along with dropping all single-use plastic bags at its stores, the Woolworths strategy also includes the phasing out of unnecessary single-use plastics and for all packaging to be reusable and/or recyclable. Since announcing the strategy, the retailer has also removed single-use plastic straws, utensils, lollipop sticks and cotton bud stems, as well as made significant packaging improvements.
• Impact: To encourage behavioural change among customers, Woolworths said it is currently trialling a ‘bag share’ initiative, which gives customers the opportunity to drop off their excess reusable bags that are still in good condition for other customers who have forgotten theirs to use and return thereafter.

Photo Courtesy of Woolworths