The Warehouse today announced it has donated over $145,000 to New Zealand charities from money raised via its stores' plastic bag sales. This follows The Warehouse's decision in April to charge 10 cents for bags at the checkout in a nationwide effort to reduce unnecessary plastic bag use.

The company's 86 stores have each chosen a local charity as the beneficiary of their store's plastic bag profits and the charities will continue to receive support via bi-annual donations for one year as part of the ongoing plastic bag reduction project.

CEO, Ian Morrice, says, "We felt it was really important we inject the money raised back into each store's community and we see this as a great opportunity for them to support their chosen local charities and further connect with their community at large."

Morrice adds, "As the country's largest general merchandiser we have a responsibility to the New Zealand environment and want to lead by example in the wider retail industry.

"A recent survey of 600 of our customers told us that 78%* support the plastic bag charge, which further drove our commitment to the reduction project, working with our customers to protect the environment and make a difference in the communities we operate within."

The Warehouse was recently acknowledged for its plastic bag initiative with the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Consumer Education Award at the Environmental Packaging Awards** - an annual event hosted by The Packaging Council to celebrate the best of New Zealand's environmentally friendly packaging.

Having predicted the 10 cent charge would see over 20 million bags taken out of circulation in the first 12 months, The Warehouse is well on track to its target with an average 84% reduction in plastic bags from July-September.

Customers are encouraged to buy re-usable bags from The Warehouse stores for 99 cents and sales of these are increasing steadily in line with the reduction in volumes of plastic checkout bags.