Back in the 60s the super markets had a large box, about 2 x 4 meters, into which they put the cardboard boxes their stock came in, for shoppers to pack their groceries into to get them home in good order.

These disappeared, probably some greeny initiative, replaced by single use plastic bags. These were really great. Light strong water resistant, the groceries were well protected, & there were so many jobs they were useful for at home. We never got enough of them from the supermarket, & I occasionally bought a pack of 100 from the local service station convenience store they were so useful.

Of course greenies hate anything useful & finally got them banned. Along came reusable bags. Awful things. Much thicker, using 5 times as much plastic, they were the wrong shape to line the half a dozen waste paper baskets around the house, & not much good for anything else. Even worse, unlike the single use bags, that degrade quickly in sunlight, these things take month to even start degrading.

Then the ultimate stupidity, my grocery delivery last night was half in heavy thick paper bags, the frozen & chilled stuff still in plastic bags. The trucks are refrigerated, & must sweet a bit, as the wet bottom fell out of one just before reaching my door. Fortunately it was dog & cat food. I doubt the bent tins will worry them, & the dry food bags didn't split. The handle was coming off another as it reached the kitchen. These bags are heavy, but not fit for purpose. They will have consumed trees & much more energy to make, all because some misguided greenies have bleated their stupidity & equally stupid politicians jumped to attention.

God help us.

I have no trouble with the canvas-like bags (made from recycled polypropylene and natural plant fibres) sold by supermarkets, which last for years. We have had half a dozen of them for at least 5 years, keep them in the car boot permanently, and they don't look like having to be replaced, ever.

The plastic bags provided free for fruit and vegetables are kept until there are enough of them to take back to the supermarket for recycling.

But that's SA for you. We had the plastic bag thing solved long before it became a seemingly insurmountable problem for the other states.

Let us not forget the single use plastic garbage bags and bin liners that are sold by the super markets.

ttbn,
Just out of curiosity, has. SA replaced the single use plastic bottles that are used for soft drinks, detergents, cordials and sauces etc?

I did mention ttbn, that I have my groceries delivered. It is actually cheaper than driving to town to do the shopping, & I have better things to do with my time than wander around supermarkets.

The only time I go to a super market is when I have to go to town for banking, medical or other such stuff.

Hasbeen,
>These disappeared, probably some greeny initiative
Sometimes I wonder whether you'd be as hostile to the Greens if you based your opinions on their actual position rather than attributing everything you dislike to them.
The boxes disappeared because the new plastic bags were quick and easy to pack, and cheap enough that there was no economic advantage to customers reusing the boxes.

The plastic bag ban was for a very good reason, but I still think it was bad policy. They should've kept using the slightly stronger bags (same shape as the single use ones but about double the thickness) at least until fully biodegradable plastic bags became available and fit for purpose.

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Is Mise,
SA has a 10c deposit on drink bottles (and cartons) under a litre. It hasn't bothered applying it to bigger bottles or sauce/detergent bottles because these are mainly used in the home and, unlike plastic bags, don't blow around.

Hasbeen, I do online ordering with Coles. Their bags are quite strong
and fit our kitchen bin better than the ones sold for the purpose in Coles.