Plastic bags to be removed from Coles stores

Plastic single-use fresh produce bags are going to be removed from all 12 Coles stores in the ACT by the middle of next month as the supermarket giants try to impose a nationwide ban.

The supermarket said it would encourage customers to bring in their own reusable bags to put their produce in, but mesh fresh produce bags would also be available to purchase.

Coles' chief operations and sustainability officer Matt Swindells said the initiative was a national first and would help the supermarket chain decide on the possibility of a blanket ban across all of its stores.

He said that we will be looking closely at how our ACT customers respond.

These insights will inform our consideration of rolling this out to our customers nationally. The trial ban in the ACT, lasting a year, would aim to reduce 11 tonnes of plastic, said Swindells.

Plastic cutlery and some takeaway containers could no longer be supplied or sold in the territory because of the ACT's ban on single-use plastics at the beginning of last year.

Mia Swainson, Chair of Zero Waste Revolution, told ABC Radio Canberra she had previously fallen for the convenience of the plastic fresh produce bag.

She said I try to reuse it around the house until it's so ripped and torn, where I put it out to be recycled but, by rule, I don't use those thin plastic bags because I do bring those alternatives like reusable shopping bags.

I have a strong philosophy of meeting people where they are and helping them take one step at a time and not feel guilty about that one plastic bag that is the exception. Ms Swainson said that it was another change that could soon become a habit for shoppers, as a result of the trial ban.

Ms Swainson said there were a number of alternatives to the plastic bag, including going back to the paper bag.

She said that there was a time when everyone's fruit and veg were in a paper bag and we moved to plastic.