“To reduce the amount of plastic in the community, we’ve removed soft plastic shopping bags from our checkouts,” a Woolworths spokesman told 9news.com.au.
“We’re encouraging customers to bring their own bags, however we know that more customers will now rely on our paper bags, and unfortunately we can’t source enough in Australia to meet the increased demand.
“The production capacity in Australia is currently limited and we’re working with two Australian manufacturers to source as many locally made paper bags as possible.”
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The paper bag option was first introduced into Woolies stores back 2020, though according to the retailer, roughly eight in 10 shoppers bring their own while shopping.
This, the supermarket said, had resulted in the paper bags becoming the entry price option for customers who forget their own.
Woolworths currently sources its paper bags from manufacturers in Australia, Vietnam and China.
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