Friday 17th April

At last supermarket chain gets real!

The GetReal team was thrilled to hear the announcement from Foodstuffs today that they are shortly to introduce a charge for plastic bags at their New World and Pak'n’Save supermarkets across the country. The get GetReal team says that this announcement shows that they are willing to step up and play their part towards reducing plastic bags in New Zealand. It supports the progress that voluntary campaigners, environmental groups and consumers have been making to reduce plastic bag use.

Angus Ho, GetReal Campaigner, has been travelling the South Island for the last week, talking to people on the street and gathering support for their "No Free Plastic Bags Campaign".

“It is a wonderful success for GetReal, and great news of NZ, the environment and Foodstuff customers. It is great to see a New Zealand company taking leadership on the issue of plastic bags. We will certainly be encouraging our GetReal partner organisations to support Foodstuffs stores.”

"Over the last week, the feedback I've been getting is that people are ready for action on plastic bags. They want supermarkets to take leadership on this issue, and they want it now.

GetReal agrees with Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith when he says "When things are free, people tend to overuse them".

If groceries were free, we’d take too many of them too. A small charge makes people think about whether they really need a plastic bag, and gives them an incentive to use alternatives. Research and experience in New Zealand and other countries clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of a small charge on the overuse of plastic bags.

GetReal strongly supports the money raised from a small charge on plastic bags being used to create a fund to support environmental projects.

The next step for the GetReal Plastic Bag team is to push for Progressive Enterprises to step up to the challenge set by Foodstuffs and also The Warehouse.

Meanwhile preparations for the next campaign are under way: GetReal Director Gwilym Griffith-Jones said today "The announcement by Foodstuffs indicates big companies are willing to listen to public opinion and hear that kiwis do care about their environment. Plastic bags are a small part of our overall goal to bring transparency and progress to the true costs of New Zealand's waste stream. We are looking forward to launching our next campaign focusing on the broader packaging waste problem next week."

ENDS

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