Supermarket giant Countdown has announced this morning all of its South Island stores will phase out single-use plastic bags starting early next month.
After becoming the first supermarket in New Zealand to announce it would phase out plastic bags at checkouts last year , Countdown confirmed today that 85 per cent of their stores will move away from plastic in October.
Countdown's General Manager of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Kiri Hannifin, said that having the entire South Island network phase out single-use plastic carrier bags is a massive milestone.
"We're really proud to be continuing to lead the way for supermarkets in New Zealand when it comes to phasing out single-use plastic carrier bags," she said.
"With our stores using on average around 6000 bags every day, the faster we can make this change, the sooner we can make a difference for the environment.
"Since we started phasing out single-use plastic carrier bags in May, we’ve already removed 22 million bags from circulation."
Along with the South Island, all Countdown stores in Napier, Hastings, the Waikato region and Auckland's North Shore will also make the move away from plastic on October 8.
"Making reusable bags the norm will have long-lasting benefits for New Zealand’s environment," Ms Hannifin said.
"One of the reasons the phase out is going so well is that our customers have really got behind this move and we hope this will continue when these further stores make the change."
The supermarket giant hopes to phase out plastic bags from all 180 of their stores by the end of the year.
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