All you need to know about the plastic bag ban

Green Business HQ founder Carolyn Cox has launched the Complete Guide to the New Zealand Plastic Bag Ban. The New Zealand plastic shopping bag ban comes into effect on 1 July 2019. With just three months remaining for retailers to phase in these changes.

“We have over 500,000 small to medium sized enterprises in New Zealand and many small businesses, corner dairies, and takeaway food stores need some support to work out how the plastic shopping bag ban will apply to them,” says Green Business HQ Founder Carolyn Cox, “We’ve looked at what has worked in Australia and put together resources to help New Zealand businesses make a smooth transition.”

The guide is designed to help retailers comply with the new regulations, find alternative bag solutions, manage customer expectations and maximise the benefits for their business. The guide includes fact sheets, posters, stickers and signs that businesses can use in store to help communicate the changes to customers. Encouraging shoppers to get into the habit of bringing their own bags.

“Many businesses will be excited to join the effort to protect our environment, wildlife and ecosystems from plastic pollution, and these resources will help ensure that they are able to play their part in phasing out single-use plastic shopping bags” says Cox.

The early plastic bag phase out by bigger retailers including supermarkets, Mitre 10 and Kings Plant Barn will help make the transition easier for smaller retailers, with many customers already using reusable bags and ready to support these changes in other stores.

• The ban applies to all New Zealand businesses, also covering giveaways and on-line sales
• Breaching the ban can result in fines of up to $100,000
• Everyone from the chemist, corner diary, and local takeaways to big box retailers will need to comply
• The ban applies to all new or unused plastic shopping bags, with carry handles that are less than 70 microns thick, and includes any degradable, biodegradable or oxo-degradable bags used to distribute or take home goods
• New Zealand consumers are getting into the habit of bringing their own bags with 50% of kiwis are already bringing theirs[1].
• Businesses can download free fact sheets and order copies of the full guide at www.greenbusinesshq.com/plasticban
• Know of a business still using plastic shopping bags? Send them a link to the guide