Consumers are paying more every time they buy a plastic shopping bag, with industry experts warning that higher levies and stricter regulations could push costs even higher.
South African consumers are paying more than ever for plastic shopping bags, with industry experts warning that rising environmental levies, increasing manufacturing costs and stricter regulations could leave shoppers carrying an even heavier financial burden.
Traderbag, a supplier of customised sustainable paper shopping bags, has called on retailers to rethink their reliance on plastic bags, arguing that the shift towards paper packaging seen in online retail demonstrates that practical alternatives already exist.
Declan Cherry, a director at Traderbag, said physical retailers had been slower to embrace paper despite its growing acceptance elsewhere.
"For online retail, packaging is part of the delivery experience. When a parcel arrives at a customer's home, the packaging represents the brand. Physical retail has been slower because plastic bags are cheap, familiar and already built into store operations. That is exactly why this topic needs to be revisited. If online retail can move towards paper at scale, then physical retail can too, provided the solution is practical, affordable and reliable," Cherry said.
