Plastic-bag ban could hit poorest most

The Government’s plastic bag ban could hit the poorest the hardest, says the Ministry for the Environment. The ministry suggests people with Gold and Community Services Cards receive reusable bags for free.

But the Government says it won’t require retailers to offer the bags free and won’t provide a subsidy.

Retailers may choose to offer discounted bags to customers with such cards, but this would be up to each retailer.

As of July 1, retailers will no longer be able to sell or give away singleuse plastic shopping bags.

Instead, people must buy reusable bags more than 70 microns thick.

Cabinet decided last year to go ahead with a mandatory nationwide phase-out of single-use bags, which are seen as a hazard for nature, particularly marine wildlife.

A regulatory impact assessment of the ban, written by the Environment Ministry, warned there was a risk it could affect the poor most.

“Requiring consumers to pay upfront for new multi-use shopping bags could disproportionately affect lower-income consumers,” it said.

“This could be mitigated by retailers allowing consumers who have Gold Cards or Community Service Cards a discount or exceptions.”

The ministry also proposed partnering with food banks and different donors to distribute free multiuse bags with food parcels.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said it is up to the retailers and supermarkets to decide if they’ll provide such a discount.

“It will not be required or subsidised by the Government.

“Another option is for retailers to provide free cardboard boxes as some do at present. Of course, once customers have a set of bags, then they can avoid any further costs by reusing their bags.”

While the intention of the phaseout is to encourage a shift from singleuse to multi-use methods of carrying sold goods, the ministry said it was not possible to control how individual consumers will respond.

“If multi-use bags are not reused by the consumer to the design lifetime of the bags, net resource use may increase — resulting in greater inefficiency and loss of resources, compared to the status quo.”

To mitigate this risk, the ministry suggested providing information on the benefits of reusable bags the consumers, as well as working with retailers and supermarkets.

The impact assessment also showed 62 per cent of businesses which submitted on the ban’s proposal were in favour of a mandatory nationwide phase-out.

The ministry says up to 1.6 billion such bags are used each year.