‘It’s the only way’

Blenheim shoppers are behind a supermarket chain’s move to scrap plastic bags.

Countdown customers were elated to learn their Redwoodtown store was one of 10 around New Zealand selected to phase out single-use plastic carrier bags from May 21.

Countdown is the first New Zealand supermarket CHAIN to announce plans to remove plastic bags from its checkouts and online shopping service for good.

Shopper Tina Connor said the ban would be ‘‘the only way to phase [plastic bags] out completely’’.

‘‘People are going to keep using plastic bags until they’re phased out,’’ Connor said.

‘‘It would be nice if people could do it because they think they need to look after the environment, but we’re not all on that page of agreement.

‘‘So, we let someone else do it, let Countdown say, ‘OK, we have to play our part’ and just ban them.’’

But Countdown could not be the only supermarket chain to ban plastic bags if New Zealand wanted to effectively cut down on their use, Connor said.

‘‘I’d like to see it happen right across the board at all supermarkets, so that at one supermarket people don’t just go along there so that they have plastic bags,’’ she said.

Connor said it took her ‘‘a while’’ to remember to take cloth bags when shopping, but the move wasn’t difficult.

‘‘I was always forgetting them, but I’ve got them now, because I’ve bought that many extra ones,’’ she said.

Lilliana Trustrum, who also shops at Redwoodtown Countdown, said she would continue to use cloth bags for her shopping.

‘‘We’ve got very good bags,’’ Trustrum said.

‘‘We’ve got ones for the freezer and ones for the other goods.’’

Shopper Robyn Rodger said Countdown’s decision to ditch plastic bags was ‘‘absolutely fantastic’’.

‘‘We need cloth bags that we can recycle, [and] use time and time again,’’ Rodger said.

‘‘I bring my own [cloth] bags. I’m going in there just for a few items and this is what they’ll go home in, my own bag.’’

The 10 stores were selected to include a range of store sizes, checkout and bag carousel layouts, cities and smaller towns.

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin said since Countdown announced its decision to phase out single-use plastic bags last year, plastic bag use had reduced about 16 per cent.

Countdown used 350 million plastic bags a year, and that needed to stop, she said.

‘‘We’ve all seen the pictures of our environment and marine life suffering because of plastic pollution, and the impact on our ecosystems is unacceptable.

‘‘The debate is over on why we are doing this and now it’s time to get moving. These 10 supermarkets are just the start.’’

Customers and staff at the stores would provide feedback over 12 weeks, she said.

The remaining 172 Countdown supermarkets would go plastic bag free before the end of the year. A cruise ship crash onto rocks in the Marlborough Sounds was triggered by confusion between the bridge and the pilot who was guiding it, a maritime investigation has found.

The incident resulted in cruise ships being banned from taking the same routes as Cook Strait ferries.

In January 2016, the Picton-bound, Maltese-flagged Royal Caribbean cruise ship Azamara Quest struck Wheki Rock after entering Tory Channel with a Port Marlborough pilot on board.

There were 652 passengers and 394 crew on board.

A Traffic Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report found the master and pilot exchanged information and discussed the passage plan through Tory Channel to Picton, where there are especially strong currents in the tight turn entering Tory Channel.

But the manoeuvre began with confusion between the master and pilot over how the first turn would be taken.

It was taken late and the ship crashed into Wheki Rock close to the northern shoreline.

No one was hurt but the crash caused minor damage to the hull and one propeller.

TAIC lead investigator Tim Burfoot said the misunderstanding between the pilot and the bridge was over when the pilot started the turn.

The pilot had lost his start point due to a lack of ‘‘situational awareness’’ and did not have enough recent experience of piloting big ships in and out of the channel, Burfoot said.

Pilots were now required to use a simulator to practice the Tory Channel turn and remain proficient, Burfoot said.

The main lesson from the investigation was that safe navigation was the shared task of the bridge team and the pilot.