The Australian Forest Product Association (AFPA) has called on all Australian retailers to choose paper bags and packaging, the renewable and environmentally friendly solution, and help kickstart the Australian economy as we reopen after the pandemic.
The call comes after media reports highlighting that new paper bags being offered by Woolworths as an alternative to plastic were made in China or Vietnam.
Woolworths’ spokesperson was reported as saying, “We hear you and want to assure you we have every intention of sourcing paper bags in Australia as soon as we can.”
Chief Executive of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) Ross Hampton said, “Woolworths is to be congratulated for leading our retailers down the sustainability path by ‘going back to the future’ and reintroducing paper shopping bags. Any shopper who cares for the environment will want to head to Woolworths. It is terrific too that Woolworths is working hard at ensuring that it can order these bags from Australian manufacturers. That will help both the environment and the Australian economy and that’s the win, win most consumers will give a big tick to.”
“Every extra Australian paper product which can be used by businesses means jobs are saved right along the supply chain, which reaches back to the regional communities which processed the forest products which becomes paper bags and other materials.”
“We urge the other major retailers and all businesses to look at all of their paper products and ask whether they can also be made in Australia. That goes for everything from printing paper to packaging, to toilet tissue and paper towel, to point of sale displays, to coffee cups and even the paper they use for their catalogues,” Mr Hampton concluded.