Produce bags commonly used in the big supermarkets have been banned in two states – but an expert warns the move isn’t enough to cut down the environmental impact of single-use plastic.

From September 1, state plastic bans across Western Australia and South Australia extended to include single-use plastic produce bags for loose fruit and vegetables, along with other single-use plastic items, such as coffee cups and lids.

Days before the bans came into effect, Coles said it had replaced its plastic produce bags in WA stores with a compostable version that could be used to collect kitchen food scraps before being added to home compost bins or green collection bins.

Coles Group chief operations and sustainability officer Matt Swindells said the change would remove 36 million conventional plastic produce bags from circulation in WA every year.

A Woolworths spokesperson told The New Daily the supermarket chain had also moved to providing certified compostable bags as an option for the fruit and vegetable section in all of its 110 WA stores.

It follows both big retailers exchanging single-use produce bags for compostable versions in South Australia in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

But Marine Conservation Society plastics and packaging program manager Tara Jones told The New Daily the compostable bags would not necessarily make a significant impact on waste reduction due to lack of access to green collection bins.

“For Western Australia, in 2022 only 11 per cent of households had access to a food organics, garden organics kerbside bin that you can actually put those compostable bags into,” she said.

“Without really adequate access to composting facilities, either home or commercial, these items are still going to end up in landfill.

“What we’re seeing with compostable produce bags … is we’re moving away from one problematic single-use item to another problematic single-use item.”

Australia’s plastic problem

Australia has a severe plastic waste problem, exacerbated by the lack of a national plan; states and territories decide for themselves what waste-reduction policies to install.

This has delayed action, as seen this year when Queensland quietly paused plans to ban a range of single-use plastics, including produce bags, choosing instead to wait for a national strategy.

Each state and territory’s plastic restrictions can be found here.

On average, every Australian generates 59 kilograms of single-use plastic waste each year.

Clean Up Australia’s 2023 Litter Report found plastics were the most reported material type at surveyed Clean Up sites, with soft plastics found to be the most common type of plastic litter.

This plastic waste easily pollutes and builds up in waterways and on land, risking the health of animals, plants and humans alike.

Jones said the exact extent of major supermarkets’ contribution to plastic waste in Australia isn’t known.

“Last year, we found that there was a serious lack of transparency about how much plastic packaging [Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and Metcash are] using,” she said.

“They’re not giving us the [information about the] amount of plastic that they use or the amount of plastic that they’re reducing in real terms, so it’s hard to know what their impact is.”

Compostable bags ‘have a very similar risk’

Compostable produce bags might seem like a step in the right direction, but unless consumers have an easy way to actually composting them, they actually just add to Australia’s plastic waste problem.

“There was a study that showed that home and commercially compostable plastics were found to still be intact after four months in various marine environments,” Jones said.

“Compostable plastics need special conditions to break down; those conditions are things like the right mix of microbes and heat and bacteria, and those conditions aren’t met in the marine environment.

“Unfortunately … compostable produce bags … have a very similar risk to marine environment through ingestion and entanglement and suffocation, because they don’t break down more quickly [than regular plastic bags].”

Rather than focus on single-use alternatives, she said there should be more focus on reusable items and avoiding single-use items altogether.

Most major supermarkets sell cheap reusable produce bags that are lightweight, easy to use and wash.

But Jones said there should also be options for shoppers to borrow bags from supermarkets and return them the next time they shop for fresh produce.

There is also the issue of supermarkets charging more for loose fresh produce than fresh produce packed in plastic.

“We found [in our 2023 report] that in 78 per cent of cases, the loose fresh produce was more expensive per kilo than the pre-packaged items,” Jones said.

“While consumers changing their behaviour is all well and good, if shoppers aren’t given the choice, then we can’t expect them to bear the responsibility of this.”