Fruit World is preparing to switch to only paper bags from 1 July. Photo: Supplied / Fruit World
Fruit and vegetable stores around the country are preparing to ditch the plastic, as a ban on single-use produce bags comes into effect.
Saturday 1 July marks the second step of the government's phase-out of single-use, hard-to-recycle plastic.
Single-use plastic tableware and cutlery, plastic produce bags and plastic straws will be banned. Disabled people and those with a health condition will still be able to access plastic straws.
Fruit World, which had 21 fruit and veggie shops around Auckland, had been preparing for the ban. Manager Steve Higgs said the company will be switching to paper bags.
"We've certainly had plenty of time to migrate across to that paper bag option, which is good, and hopefully the next step is when customers get a little bit more focused on bringing their own bags in."
A lot of customers bring in reusable bags or boxes when buying fruit and vegetables. Photo: Supplied / Fruit World
Higgs said the paper bags do cost significantly more than the plastic ones, a cost the business will absorb.
"Customers haven't really been talking about the ban, but I expect that to change at the weekend.
"But lots of people have already changed their habits, plenty bring in their own reusable bags or boxes already, but there's always that odd time you forget and you've got to put your fruit and vege into something."
Phase two of the phase-out included a transition to compostable plastic produce stickers by 2025. Fruit already packed can still be sold, so plastic stickers will still appear on shelves for a while yet.
Fruit World has 21 shops across Auckland. Photo: Supplied / Fruit World
But Jenkins Freshpac Systems, the country's largest producer of fruit labels, had developed a compostable sticker. Regional market manager Tom McLaughlin said after 10 years of development, the plant-based sticker is ready to go.
"It's really hard to design a sticker that's compostable but still sticks to all the different fruits and stays in place while the fruit is stored, transported and sold. So we're delighted we have a product available for the domestic market."
McLaughlin said the company is still working to develop a home compostable glue for the labels.
"We believe we've got a product in place now which uses all home compostable ingredients, including the adhesive, so we're just going through trials at the moment and we hope to crack the home compostable adhesive in the next 12 months."