"Better than plastic and cats love them": Call to bring back Woolies favourite
Supermarket shoppers have been reminiscing about an iconic shopping item they would love to see returned to stores.
A loyal Woolies customer shared a photo of a Woolies paper bag from the 1970s with a unique retro design to the Old Shops Australia Facebook group.
Immediately, comments flooded in from so many customers about how they missed the bag and wanted it brought back.
“Bring them back please – so much easier on the shoulders,” one customer said.
Another added: “Better than plastic bags and cats love them.”
Others pointed out other uses for the bags such as cooking inside of and how they created an additional position of employees whose whole job description was packing them for customers.
A handful of social media users pointed out these bags were done away with in favour of plastic bags to save the trees.
One said they much prefer the current paper bags with handles as they were stronger and the bottoms didn’t “fall out” when wet.
Woolies old paper bags and their updated version.
Woolworths reintroduced paper shopping bags with a twist in 2020 after an increase in customer demand, with the new paper bags made from 70% recycled paper making them easy to dispose of in recycling bins.
Last month, Woolies announced plastic bags are being phased out for good over the next 12 months to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags and promote sustainability.
BIG W is also set to phase out its $0.15 and $0.45 reusable plastic bags from stores by the end of June 2023. While Western Australia has already embraced the change, stores in South Australia and Northern Territory are up next.
Natalie Davis, Managing Director of Woolworths Supermarkets said at the time of announcement: “Our reusable plastic bags were introduced back in 2018 to help customers adjust to the removal of single use plastic bags from our stores.
“We’ve seen a huge shift in shopping habits since we stopped giving out single use plastic bags, with 8 out of 10 customers now bringing their own bags from home.
Image: Woolworths / Facebook