OLD BAG - NEW TRICKS: Wear It Out & Countdown Will Replace It For Free

Sheralee from Te Atatu Peninsula

Plastic bags
Countdown was the first supermarket in NZ to announce a move away from single-use plastic carrier bags by the end of 2018. This will remove around 350 million plastic bags from circulation each year!

Ten of our stores move to reusable bags on 21 May and these stores will lead the change for the remaining 172 Countdown stores nationwide as they roll out over the year.

Moving away from 350 million plastic bags takes a fair bit of work behind the scenes and by our team in our stores - these first ten stores will test our thinking, our training and our processes to ultimately help ensure a smooth transition for all of our customers and team when we make the change across the country.

Countdown customers have already reduced their use of plastic bags by just over 16% since we announced our commitment last year. Our popular Countdown reusable bags are just $1 each and we’ll continue to introduce a range of options to help customers move towards reusable bags.

Removing single-use plastic bags is a big step, but it’s just one part of our overall aim to reduce plastic in our business. In November we announced 20 corporate responsibility and sustainability commitments out to 2020. We’re also looking at ways to reduce plastic right across our business, including in produce and delis.

Bag for Good™ - Good for you. Good for the environment.

Imagine a world where you paid $1 for a reusable bag and you didn’t have to pay a cent for a bag again… well, that’s where Countdown’s Bag for Good™ is here to help!

Our popular black reusable bag is now a Bag for Good™. It costs only $1, and when it wears out, bring it back in and we’ll replace it for free, no matter when you bought it from us. We want to make it as easy and affordable as possible for our customers to make the move away from single-use plastic carrier bags.

Under the programme, simply bring in your worn out Bag for Good™ when you shop with us, and we’ll swap it at the checkout for a new one. Once we receive a worn out Bag for Good™, we’ll recycle it in the designated Soft Plastic Recycling bins in our stores. For more information, check out the frequently asked questions here.

Our focus is firmly set on encouraging customers away from single-use plastic where something is used once and then discarded. The much better outcome is to use something over and over again, then recycle it to be used again.

Supporting Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Turtle Rehabilitation Programme

In March 2018 we partnered with Kelly Tarlton’s Turtle Rehabilitation Programme, which helps nurse sick turtle’s back to health with the aim of releasing them into the wild. Turtles can often mistake plastic pollution for food, which if ingested, can have disastrous effects.