With retailers steadily focusing on reducing the negative impact of plastics on the environment by encouraging the use of reusable bags for shopping and in some instances eradicating plastics from till points, consumers have expressed mixed emotions about the move.
In recent years the shopping experience in some of SA's largest grocers has changed with a focus now fully on getting rid of plastics. Woolworths recently became the first retailer to scrap plastic carrier bags from its stores entirely.
But for consumer Tshepang Ramanki, who frequents the Woolworth stores in Eastgate Mall, Mall of the South and New Market, the scrapping of plastic bags has been annoying.
“It’s irritating, I don’t want to lie to you. More than three times I’ve had to go there and I’ve forgotten either my shopper or a plastic bag and every time I have to buy a bag. One minute the bag is in the car, then it goes for a car wash, I take out everything and the next thing I want to go to the shop and I’ve forgotten the bag! I don’t understand why plastic bags were completely scrapped,” says Ramanki.
She says she would have preferred the store to use paper bags.
“Look at Food Lovers Market, I don't think you buy the bag there, I think you get it for free. Can't they do the same?”
Tshepang also feels that the store should have done more to communicate its intentions as she doesn’t recall receiving communication about the scrapping of plastic bags.
Gladys Furhmann from Sandton says she’s all for the scrapping of plastic bags and she believes it’s been long overdue. She says most people don’t reuse their plastic bags, not even to upcycle them like in the past where people would cut them into strips and make woven mats and sometimes shoes.
“I fully support it because I have seen what harm [plastic] can cause ... plastic is not really biodegradable and they’ve only now come up with plastic that is sort of degradable but they sit in landfills and there isn’t much that one can do,” she says.
Furhmann says the effects of plastic pollution are evident, and as individuals we should be doing the work to reuse, recycle and decrease our negative impact on the environment.
Furhmann and her family have also taken to sorting recyclables from their waste.
“If retailers are doing it in one way or the other they are forcing us to think differently when we consume. I'm not saying that I'm 100% free of plastic,” she says.
At the end of April, Woolworths said it would have an additional 50 stores that are free of single-use plastic bags.
“These additional 52 stores, based mainly in Gauteng and the Western Cape, takes us to over 200 single-use plastic bag-free stores in Southern Africa. A significant achievement at a time when we have had so many supply uncertainties,” said Woolworths head of foods technology, safety and good business journey Latiefa Behardien in a statement.
Woolworth has 452 food stores and 279 fashion, beauty and home stores. The grocer is selling consumers a reusable and recyclable shopping bag that is locally made from recyclable materials. The bag costs R6.49. The retailer aims to have zero packaging waste-to-landfill, and for all packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2022.
Pick n Pay was the first retailer in the country to introduce reusable shopping bags in 2003. In 2018 it introduced 100% recycled and recyclable plastic bags. They also have a shopper, retailing for R6, made from green recycled plastic bottles.
“Customer response to these has been fantastic. We also offer customers the option to buy paper bags at till points [at R2 a bag]. To encourage the re-use of plastic bags, as well as increase the use of reusable bags, we have launched several communication and awareness initiatives which included giving away 300,000 PnP reusable bags. We also communicate with customers via our Smart Shopper programme to encourage the reuse of shopping bags. Encouragingly, a recent survey with our Smart Shoppers showed that 85% of customers reuse their plastic bags,” said Andre Nel, head of sustainability at Pick n Pay.
The Shoprite Group became the first SA retailer to produce a verified 100% recycled shopping bag in 2013. And in 2020 the group’s “planet” bags came out on top in a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) study of grocery carrier bags in terms of environmental and socio-economic performance. It sells its shopping bag for R3 each.
In April, the government published amendments to the plastic carrier bags and plastic flat bags regulations, which stated plastic carrier bags and plastic flat bags must be made from a minimum of 50% post-consumer recyclate from January 1 2023, 75% of recycled materials from the start of 2025 and must comprise 100% post-consumer recyclate from January 1 2027.
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