The ban on single-use plastic shopping bags which takes effect tomorrow will cover all retailers.
Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage says this is a step towards healthier oceans and giving nature a hand.
"New Zealanders are proud of our country's clean, green reputation and want to help ensure we live up to it. Ending the use of single-use plastic shopping bags helps do that," Ms Sage said.
"The ban should ensure less plastic ends up in rivers, streams, storm water systems and the ocean so seabirds, fish, turtles, and marine mammals are less vulnerable to being harmed by it."
She says banning single-use plastic bags is just one step in tackling New Zealand's waste issues.
"We also need to recharge our materials recovery and recycling systems and shift to a circular economy," she says.
Mainstream supermarkets have already made the move away from single-use plastic bags.
According to survey research done for the Ministry for the Environment, New Zealanders have made a rapid transition to reusable bags, with 56 per cent of shoppers in April 2018 bringing reusable bags, increasing to 91 per cent always/often bringing their own reusable bag in September 2018.
"Government regulations and the sum of many individual actions make a difference. New Zealanders remembering to take their reusable bags is stopping tens of millions of single plastic bags becoming waste each year," Ms Sage said.
Businesses were given six months ahead of the ban to phase-out single-use plastic bags.
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