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AUSTRALIA-ENVIRONMENT-WASTE-PLASTIC-RETAIL
‘Bag rage’ as Australia supermarkets impose plastic ban
SYDNEY, July 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Dozens of supermarket staff have suffered
abuse as two major Australian grocery chains struggled to impose a ban on
single-use plastic bags, with one irate customer putting his hands around a
shop assistant’s throat.
Woolworths and Coles last year announced plans to voluntarily remove free
lightweight plastic bags from their stores nationally and instead offer more
environmentally friendly reusable bags for 15 Aus cents (11 US cents) each.
The Coles ban came into force on Sunday. Woolworths’ took effect on June
20, but the company was forced to delay the move by 10 days after customers
complained, with staff bearing the brunt of their anger.
A survey by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association —
the union that represents shop assistants — showed that of the 141 members
employed by the two chains to respond so far, 61 said they had been subjected
to abusive behaviour.
It included a worker being assaulted by a customer after being told there
were no free plastic bags at a store in Western Australia state.
“A male customer in the self-serve area swore loudly at a female worker,”
the union’s assistant secretary Ben Harris told AFP on Monday. “She provided
him with some complimentary bags and apologised.”
The customer then made a mistake by scanning an item twice, but when the
same worker came to help him, “he walked up behind her and put his hands
around her throat”, Harris said.
Other customers have thrown grocery items on the floor and stormed off
after swearing at staff.
“While we understand that some customers may be frustrated by this change,
there is absolutely no excuse for abusive or violent behaviour towards retail
staff,” Gerard Dwyer, the union’s national secretary said in a statement.
He said the ban could also pose a health risk, with people bringing filthy
used bags to pack their shopping without considering hygiene issues.
“In some cases, customers have attempted to use bags which contained
vomit, dirty nappies or rat faeces. This is obviously unacceptable and
presents a serious health risk to retail staff,” he said.
According to US journal Science, eight million tonnes of plastic are
dumped into the Earth’s oceans and seas each year, with toxic particles
ingested by fish and, through the food chain, by humans.
In response to mounting community calls for change, all states and
territories in Australia now either have a plastic bag ban or are planning
one, except New South Wales. Retailers face fines of up to Aus$6,000 if they
do not comply.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1024 hrs