Coles ends free bags

COLES has taken almost two months to finally put a stop to handing out free plastic bags.

The supermarket giant has come under fire from shoppers and environmentalists after flip-flopping on its stance since dumping single-use plastic bags on July 1.

From today, customers will have to pay 15 cents for reusable plastic bags.

Extensive backlash by shoppers originally forced the supermarket to take urgent action to try to appease customers by giving them free bags to carry their shopping.

The August 1 deadline was extended until August 29.