N ew Zealand is to become the first country to ban thin plastic bags used to purchase loose fruit and vegetables in supermarkets.
The new ban will also extend to plastic straws and cutlery, as the nation’s government expands its campaign against single-use plastics, which began in 2019 when it banned plastic carrier bags.
“New Zealand produces too much waste, too much plastic waste,” said New Zealand’s associate environment minister Rachel Brooking.
Ms Brooking said the 2019 bag ban has already prevented more than one billion plastic bags from being used in New Zealand, and the new ban on thin bags, which will come into force on Saturday, will add a further reduction of 150 million bags per year.
“So we want people to be bringing their own bags and supermarkets are selling reusable produce bags.”.
Catherine Langabeer, Countdown’s head of sustainability, said the mesh bags were tested to be reused up to 5,000 times each.
Plastic fruit and vegetable bags are still widely available in many UK supermarkets, but some shops such as Waitrose have taken the decision to raplace them with compostable bags. »
