Yahoo Lifestyle 
Woolworths shoppers' genius solution for common household problem: 'No brainer’
Are your paper bags piling up in your kitchen? Here are some great ways to reuse them!
Woolworths and Coles shoppers have recently pointed out a big problem when it comes to getting groceries delivered – the stack of paper bags you’re left with once all the food has been put away. The two supermarkets phased out single-use plastic bags completely in 2023, and while at first glance it can seem that paper bags aren’t as reusable as plastic bags, some savvy shoppers have actually shared some really great tips.
Mum Kath Brown recently posted in a Facebook group about her stash of Woolies paper bags, kickstarting a conversation about the unique ways you could reuse them.
“This morning when I got my groceries delivered, I thought how I have no use for these paper bags, but then thought that if my kids were little I would have pulled them apart so my kids could draw pictures on the blank sides,” she wrote.
“There’s soooo much paper there in all those bags, they could also colour it in to wrap birthday and Christmas gifts in. Food for thought!”
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She was soon inundated with hundreds of comments from other shoppers who had found innovative uses for the bags. Shoppers have reused them as cat litter liners and fire starters, say the bags are great for collecting green waste for composting, or you can even donate them to charities.
Kath tells Yahoo Lifestyle she was “surprised” by how many answers and suggestions she received.
“My father was a bushman all his life in New Zealand and he hated the waste of paper, and so do I,” she says. “I did see a few [answers] that say they use [the paper bags] for postage of parcels. I’d be inclined to use it for that.”
“I also liked the ideas people have of using it in the garden but I’m not a gardener.”
Woolworths bags used as weed mats in the garden
Alicia Grills commented on the post and said she uses Woolies paper bags as weed mats in the garden. A weed mat is laid on top or underneath the soil, to stop weeds from making their way to the surface.
She tells Yahoo Lifestyle it was a “no brainer” to repurpose the paper bags in this way.
“From a young age my grandmother taught me to use cardboard or newspaper [as weed mats]. These days we don’t get papers and the cereal boxes have too many dyes and plastics, [they’re] no good for the garden,” she says. “I had noticed other members of [my] community using the bags this way… I find them easier to manipulate than cardboard around the plants.”
“I would much rather recycle and reuse than see them go to waste. With minimal dye in the paper, it’s pretty good for the soil over time.”
For those keen gardeners wanting to try out this hack for yourself, she has some tips.
Before you mulch your gardens, put a layer of paper bags down around the plants. Next, wet them down and then top with a layer of mulch. She also recommends using them in pot plants at the bottom before adding soil.
Woolworths bags reused in a local baby shop
Another group member, Bec Christo, actually reuses Woolies bags in her own local baby shop Absolute Baby.
Her 11-year-old twin girls, Avril and Paige, have been learning about recycling and "stepping lightly on the earth", so their family has embraced this. Their after-school care helps Bec by passing on any Woolies bags they receive during the week.
"I am always trying to keep prices down, so reusing supermarket bags rather than purchasing new paper bags for customers keeps overheads down and is reusing resources. I've received lots of positive comments [from customers] about the usefulness of the supermarket bags and how good it is to see them being reused," she tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
"I've never purchased bags for the shop, so I don't know a dollar saving, but we think saving the environment is much more important."
Environmental expert weighs in on the impacts of paper bag use
Nina Gbor, founder of Eco Styles, is a sustainability educator, consultant and speaker who hopes to help create an environmentally sustainable future in Australia.
She tells Yahoo Lifestyle that there’s actually a misconception that paper bags are good for the environment, as they actually come with their own set of challenges.
“Paper bags, which are, according to many reports, [are] more harmful for the environment than plastic bags,” she says. “Paper bags require, for instance, about four times more water than manufacturing plastic bags, and also produce more than three times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Add to this the fact that paper is made from wood which leads to deforestation, and the impacts of paper can be seen in wildlife both on land and in the ocean. Paper bags also weigh roughly eight times more than plastic bags, so it would take approximately that many more trucks to transport a load of the same quantity of bags to a recycling centre.
“It’s kind of a question of sometimes apples and oranges in that regard,” she explains, noting that plastic bags are still “the villain”.
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While Gbor loves the idea of people reusing their paper bags – saying there are many ways to do it, such as as wrapping paper, arts and crafts and bin liners – she warns of toxic chemicals such as PFAS that can be found in some paper bags.
She’s aware that while it would be good practice for every supermarket shopper to bring their own reusable cloth bag (made from a natural material such as hemp, bamboo or cotton), people have busy lives and often forget to pack one in the car. Gbor floats the idea of supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles having reusable cloth bags for customers to use, that they can then return back to the retailer.
“There should be a system where these markets carry these reusable bags, and they collect the bags as well, so that they’re used continuously and prevent them from going to landfill.”
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