Coles customers have reacted angrily to a dramatic change to the supermarket’s paper shopping bags.
Earlier this year, the supermarket announced that it would stop selling its 15c reusable plastic bags – replacing them with 25c paper bags in all stores.
Coles Online customers are also charged a flat rate of $1.50 for use of the new paper bags.
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But now the retail giant has confirmed that it is trialling new smaller, shorter paper bags in 48 stores for use in home delivery orders.
A new image circulating on social media shows that a new version of paper bags appears to be half the height of the original paper bags.
7NEWS.com.au understands that if the trial is successful, a national rollout is planned for early 2024.
A Coles spokesperson has told 7NEWS.com.au that they made the decision to trial the bags after receiving feedback from staff.
“We are currently trialling a new paper bag for online orders in 48 stores across South Australia,” the spokesperson said.
“The decision follows feedback from our team members who said a shorter bag made packing the orders easier.
“All of our paper bags have undergone vigorous independently testing and found to safely hold up six kilos of groceries and can be reused multiple times.”
7NEWS.com.au can confirm that there have been no changes made to the bags customers purchase in-store nationally.
It’s understood the new bags have been found to fit more easily into the crates used to prepare Coles Online orders.
The change has attracted already several complaints from Coles shoppers.
“Hey Coles, your new half-sized paper bags are ridiculous, especially for your delivery service,” one Facebook user said. “Pull ya heads in.”
Another said: “Coles, what is with these smaller bags?”
Coles say that they’ve been “impressed” by the way customers have responded to the shift from using plastic bags to the paper variety.
“Our paper bags are made from 100% recycled paper and unlike soft plastic bags can be recycled kerbside,” the spokesperson said.
“Since we announced our decision to phase out soft plastic bags in May, we have been impressed by our customers’ response to the paper bags and thank them for their willingness to adapt and support this important change that will see 230 million plastic bags removed from circulation in 1 year.”
When Coles announced its decision to phase out soft plastic bags, Coles Group Chief Operations and Sustainability Officer Matt Swindells said: “The most sustainable option is to bring your own reusable bag to the supermarket, but for those who forget, we will continue to sell 100% recycled paper bags that can be recycled kerbside, as well as other reusable options.”
In addition to its paper bags, Coles also sell a range of reusable tote bags that retail for $1.00 and $2.50 for the larger size, as well as chiller bags for $2.50.