As Australian supermarkets remodel the way consumers shop on July 1, two retail giants are fighting back against the change.
Target and Kmart have little interest in following suit with no immediate plans to bag plastic bans in New South Wales and Victoria.
Plastic bag bans will come into force in Queensland and Western Australia on Sunday July 1, following the already implemented bans in ACT, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Retail giants Kmart (pictured) and Target have no interest in following the single-use plastic bag ban in New South Wales and Victoria
Victoria intends to follow the changes at the end of the year but NSW currently has no intention for a government-forced ban, allowing Target, Kmart and their consumers, plastic bag freedom.
The Deputy Director of Boomerang Alliance, an environmental campaign organisation, Jayne Paramor said that she was disappointed in Target and Kmart’s decision to keep plastic bags, news.com.au reported.
‘We would have hoped they would have removed the bags. That’s why we have advocated for a ban because, ultimately, retailers still have the freedom to pick and choose when it comes to plastic bags,’ she said.
Ms Paramor worries that their decision could provide other retailers an opportunity to backslide and revoke their plastic bag ban.
On June 20, Woolworths implemented a nationwide plastic bag ban, forcing customers to pay 15c for reusable bags made out of 80 per cent of recyclable plastic.
The change was immediately met with hesitation from consumers, forcing the supermarket powerhouse to provide free reusable bags for the next ten days as consumers begin to settle into the changes.
On June 20, Woolworths removed single-use plastic bags nationwide which frustrated many consumers, forcing them to somewhat backslide and provide free reusable bags for consumers for ten days
Coles, IGA, liquorland and Big W will remove the single-use plastic bags on July 1.
Both Target and Kmart are under the Wesfarmers group, the same organisation that owns Coles.
A representative said that the two retailers – Target and Kmart – would ban the bags by 2019, saying that the delayed ban implementation could be positive for the environment.
‘(Kmart and Target Australia) are committed to helping reduce the number of single-use plastic bags that end up in landfill each year,’ the representative said.
He said that Target and Kmart retailers were sparing the bags from ending up in landfill as the bags from WA and Queensland would end up in stores in NSW and Victoria.
Paramor said that state and territory legislation around the country has differing implications for how retailers can act and implement bag bans.
‘Most of these retailers are part of larger groups and they have the capacity to do the ban in one arm but not another and get away with that because there is not a ban across all states,’ she said.
A backslide is most evident in the changes Target have made over the past decade.
In 2009, the once environmentally savvy retailer asked customers asked customers to pay 10c for a biodegradable alternative, removing free plastic bags.
They returned to the latter in 2013 following large consumer backlash that saw them receive 500 annual complaints.
Target (pictured) were once leaders of the game when they asked customers to pay 10c for a biodegradable bag alternative in 2009