With single-use plastic gone, paper isn't the greenest choice for your fruit and veg
From Saturday, single-use plastic produce bags will be consigned to history. The Government wants to phase out 10 hard-to-recycle plastic items by 2025 , following on from the plastic grocery bag ban in 2019. At the supermarket, reusable plastic bags will be available to buy, and single-use paper bags will be free. But experts warn that paper bags have a higher carbon footprint than the ones theyre replacing. The ban also includes disposable plastic cutlery, plates and bowls plus fruit stickers that cant be composted at home. Plastic straws will only be available on request. Foodstuffs sustainable packaging programme manager Debra Goulding said New World, Pak'nSave and Four Square fruit and vegetable sections will offer paper bags at no charge for the foreseeable future as people get used to the change. But while paper is biodegradable and recyclable, she added, a lot of resources are used making a bag. Even if its got a percentage of recycled fibre, the bags have travelled halfway around the world, she said. Recycling fibre is very water- and power-intensive. Then youve got all the ships, boats and trucks... People mustnt think it has no impact on the environment. The vast majority of paper bags are imported, though a Taupo manufacturer recently started making paper packaging. One study which analysed courier bags , rather than produce bags found paper packagings carbon footprint was nearly 10 times larger than plastic. Goulding said: Were asking customers to use them sparingly. Customers are also able to buy reusable bags in store, she added, with options and materials differing for each supermarket. Shoppers are encouraged to bring whatever they like from bags bought online to a repurposed pillowcase to hold their fruit and vegetables. Countdown also provides single-use paper bags as a back-up, said head of sustainability Catherine Langabeer. We hope customers will make the transition fully away from paper bags, though were not putting a timeframe on when. Since they are the lower-impact and better-performing choice, Langabeer hopes customers would embrace reusable bags from the get-go. To help, Countdown has sourced its own reusable option, made from 80% waste plastic. These are heavily discounted, Langabeer said, to make the switch easy. The bags will be 20 cents each, sold individually and in packs of three. We really, really want to encourage that option. We know from the shift from checkout bags that customers can use reusable bags. Barbara Nebel whose company Thinkstep ANZ calculates carbon footprints recommends fabrics with recycled content, because second-hand materials have a lower impact. She warned that reusable options needed to have a long, busy life to be a greener choice. If youre buying five of them every time you go shopping, thats not great. Langabeer recommends storing produce and the larger carry bags together. People have got better at remembering their checkout bags so if you leave those in the car, leave the reusable produce bags in there as well. Before buying a reusable option, Goulding advised customers to think about what would happen when it breaks: Can you do something with it? Can it go into soft plastic recycling or your composting bin? Nebel said naked produce with zero packaging was the eco-friendliest option. You dont want 10 kiwifruit rolling around in your trolley... But you dont have to put bananas into a bag. Our weekly email newsletter, by the Forever Project's Olivia Wannan, rounds up the latest climate events. Sign up here .