Melissa Cunningham, ‘Cranky customers cause Woolies to backflip on plastic bags’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 30.06.18

Woolworths has backflipped on its plastic bag ban after irate customers refused to pay for plastic bags at the checkout.

The supermarket giant will hand out free reusable plastic bags for 10 days, after stores were inundated with complaints from customers who refused to pay for bags or did not have enough of their own stored up.

It comes a week after Woolworths issued a ban on single-use plastic bags in stores across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. The reusable plastic bags, which usually cost 15 cents, will be available free until July 8, the supermarket giant said.

“Since we phased out single-use plastic bags nationwide on June 20, some customers have told us that getting into the habit of bringing their own reusable bags has been a challenge,” Woolworths managing director Claire Peters said. “We’ve listened to these customers and heard they just want a little extra help from us to get through the transition to a more sustainable way of shopping. This will not only help support customers as they work to form new habits, but also ensure they’ll have reusable bags on hand when they next shop with us.” …

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