18 March 2009 - The New Zealand Retailers Association (NZRA) says that The Warehouse's decision to charge 10 cents for each plastic bag is entirely consistent with the approach taken by the Association to support voluntary initiatives to drive change in consumer behaviour.

Speaking on behalf of the NZRA, Barry Hellberg said: "We believe that charging for bags is an individual issue for each retailer. There have been charges for plastic bags at some PakNSave supermarkets for some time and other retailers have also introduced charges."

A voluntary campaign to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags is on target to hit 20% by July. Along with The Warehouse, grocery retailers Progressive Enterprises NZ and Foodstuffs NZ signed the Packaging Accord in 2004 committing to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags in a 5 year initiative.

In research carried out last year, 3 out of 4 New Zealanders say they do not support a ban on bags but want to be encouraged by retailers not to take bags.

The AC Nielsen research also finds that:-

 62% of customers said that they had reduced the number of bags they use because of supermarkets' efforts;  76% say supermarkets are doing more than any other retailer to reduce use of bags;  57% say they had "just enough" or "not enough" plastic bags to meet their reuse needs (which may be why there has been a 16% growth in unit sales of kitchen refuse bags); and  48% occasionally or always use an eco bag now. "We've actually taken 100 million bags out of circulation over the four years of the Accord most of which (86 million) has been achieved in the last two years as the campaign to involve shoppers has gained momentum. This has been done voluntarily by retailers working with their staff and customers."

"We encourage all retailers to focus on ways to encourage shoppers not to take plastic bags if they don't need one. Internationally there are many different ways to achieve this including bag charges, loyalty points and other incentives. If the Government wishes to mandate charges on bags, we recognise that the Minister for the Environment has the powers to do this under the Waste Minimisation Act."