Big issue with Coles and Woolworths that baffles millions of customers!

In the land down under, where the kangaroos hop and the beaches glisten, a new problem has emerged in the urban jungle, leaving millions of Australians scratching their heads.

The issue is a mountain of reusable shopping bags piling up in homes, with no clear solution. It's a problem that's as perplexing as a platypus, and it's got shoppers talking.


Troy Holmes, a Sydneysider, voiced the concern that echoes through countless Aussie households.

With 'hundreds' of reusable bags cluttering his space, he stated, ‘Now, I can’t be the only one that has, like dozens and dozens of these f****** bags from Coles and Woolworths".’


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Millions of Australian households are collecting unwanted Coles and Woolworths bags; a shopper suggests adding in-store drop-off points to help. Credit: TikTok


‘What I don’t understand is, why can’t they have a spot where I can take all my usable bags and leave them at Coles and Woolies near the counter so that people don’t buy bags, they just reuse the reusable bags.’

‘I feel bad recycling them because you can f****** use them ... it’s annoying. I want a solution,’


Leading retail expert Professor Gary Mortimer from the Queensland University of Technology has weighed in.

‘The problem is, we always forget to bring our bags, so we will also forget to donate them too,’ he said.

‘There is also the contamination issue.’

‘You don’t want your fresh fruit and vegetables going into a bag that contains bleach and cleaning products.’

‘Also, how do supermarkets control it? The donation bins will eventually end up overflowing with bags, so there's an aesthetics issue.’

‘It will look messy. People will not be donating their best quality bags, but those with holes in them.’

‘I don’t know how many bags are given away or purchased every week, but there are millions of bags sitting in pantries. It is a problem. I forgot my bags in the back of the car or left them at home.’


Some community members have suggested donating spare bags to op shops, and charities like Vinnies New South Wales have opened their doors to clean and undamaged reusable supermarket bags.

A Coles spokesperson stated that the retailer continuously seeks to simplify recycling for customers.

Adopting paper bags led to removing 230 million plastic bags from circulation within a year.

‘While we don’t currently offer a reusable bag drop off option in-store, all our paper bags can be reused multiple times and are made from 100 per cent recycled paper that can be recycled conveniently in kerbside bins if no longer required,’ the spokesperson said.

‘The most sustainable option is to bring your own reusable bag to the supermarket, but for those who forget to bring them or don’t have a bag with them when they shop, we continue to sell other 100 per cent recycled paper bags, as well as other reusable carry bag options.’


A Woolworths spokesperson explained that their paper bags are intended for repeated use and can be easily recycled at home once customers are finished with them.

‘While we know that eight in 10 of our customers bring their own reusable bags when they shop, we understand it’s easy to forget them from time to time when you’re on the run,’

In other news, Woolworths faces customer criticism for a major flaw in its new reusable Christmas paper shopping bags.

Shoppers report that the 25-cent bags tear easily. Read more about it here.
Key Takeaways
  • Millions of Australian households are accumulating unwanted Coles and Woolworths reusable bags, and one shopper has suggested a novel idea to reduce this issue by having drop-off points for reusable bags in stores.
  • Retail expert Professor Gary Mortimer highlights such a system's challenges, including forgetfulness, contamination, and control over the condition and overflow of donated bags.
  • Coles has seen a reduction in plastic bag circulation by introducing paper bags made from 100% recycled paper and encourages customers to recycle them or bring their reusable bags.
  • Woolworths offers paper bags for multiple uses and has implemented reminders for customers to bring reusable bags, including signage and an alert option in their app.
Have you found a clever way to manage your collection of reusable bags? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.
 
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Well Troy Holmes..how silly are you for whinging on social media? What did you expect..the problem to be solved by strangers, get sympathy votes and make yourself look like a prize fool!! You can ask for no bags! You can do your OWN shopping with your OWN bags! Your fault your responsibility!!
 
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I certainly have never bought these paper bags and the only few I have are when I shop at Sussan and the like. I always have my own bags but sometimes take theirs so I have bags to put goods in for donations. I keep recycling them that way.
 
Mine that come home with shopping delivered are wet and no use when they get into my door, they go straight into the recycling bin. When I happen to go into a store, anyone, I take my own cloth bags. I wonder how much money these paper bags are costing us in our groceries?
 
Paper bags are not just paper so how good are they? I’ve tried to soak them in water so l can make paper bricks for my fire but did not work. They have a film on them so they are useless. I do take my own bag’s shopping but my husband on the other hand well l will so no more. What other chemicals are the supermarkets adding the planet bet it not good.
 
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I use my own bags but do have some paper bags.
Uses for paper bags

If you give someone something use a bag
If they are plain decorate them and use to give gifts
Donate to charity shops or market stalls
Put in your compost bin
Put in your garden for weed control
Let the kids draw or decorate them and put their treasures in them

Lots of other uses I am sure
 
I have used the paper bags to line my kitchen tidy. I have only ever had the paper bags when l have had to do an online shop.
Leave your shopping bags in your car then you wont forget them. Really how hard is it to remember your shopping bags.
Or fold the paper bags flat and put them in your recycle bin.
Always someone has the small things in life to complain about.
In the bigger scheme of life is this really a problem.
Kind regards to all Vicki
 
Why are the supermarkets not using the boxes that they unpack the stock from? They are free to the customer, it saves wastage from the supermarket & also time for one of the workers to crush them. There are a few shops throughout the country areas in Qld that use the boxes for peoples groceries. I mentioned this to my local supermarket owner & he claimed that the container to keep the boxes in would cost too much to get made.
 
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NO MORE PAPER BAGS IN OP SHOPS. We don’t need them, it has become a drop off point thinking they are helping, but it’s not. There are hundreds taking up valuable space in our little shop. Traf Op Shop.
 
What happened to all those plastic bags the supermarkets hadn’t used when they brought in the eco bags? Did they end up in landfill?
 
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They cost the customer 25 - 35 cents and are made in China from timber probably supplied by Australia.
The paper bags from Aldi are made in Australia but I didn't find the "made in Aus..." logo anywhere on the bag.
The plastic (red and white) bags we used to get from Coles were and are still great, I could put 3 x 3ltr bottles of milk in them and they would not break, tried a paper bag with two bottles of milk (3ltr) and both handles gave way. Woolies handles stretched but did not break.
BTW Aldi bags have a suffocation warning on them!
 
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What a load of codswallop. It doesn’t affect every shopper at all, most of us will always take our own bags and if we forget, how hard is it to reuse the paper one you buy to put rubbish in then bin it.
I was waiting for the "I always take my own" comments ... those of us who need, for mobility reasons, to shop online can't do that. Our orders are delivered in those bags and we have no say in the matter. So YES it DOES affect a large proportion of shoppers.
 

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