Maldon has been added to the growing list of plastic bag free towns. 

A number of regional Victorian towns have taken the plunge over the last few years, which was indicative of a heightened awareness of the environmental harm plastic bags caused, according to Loddon Mallee Waste and Resource Recovery Group project officer, Rachel McConville. 

Smaller, more remote towns were more amenable to change, Ms McConville said, partly because the change was community led, but also because of the absence of major supermarkets. 

Maldon has one IGA, meaning a manager was able to make the decision his or herself, as appose to larger supermarket chains which have a general policy on bags, she said. 

The transition phase of the first two months were the most difficult for consumers, Ms McConville said, adding that changing the expectations of receiving a bag when shopping was the hardest part.

“We’re trying to change people’s mindset to take a bag in rather than expecting a bag when they go to a checkout,” she said. 

“There is an overwhelming feeling from the town it’s something they’ll stick with.”

The Loddon Mallee Waste and Resource Recovery Group has given shop owners calico bags, in the hope plastic bags will slowly trickle out of the town.

Castlemaine is another town considering taking the plunge, and has a community groups – Volunteers for Boomerang Bags Castlemaine and Surrounds – creating hundreds of fabric alternatives to the plastic carry bag, which will be placed in businesses around town. 

A Bendigo Sustainability Group subsidiary, Plastic Free Bendigo, is also part of a renewed push to put boomerang bags outside local supermarkets. 

The group plans to use Department of Justice labour to create the fabric bags, however supermarkets were coy on the prospect when questioned by the Bendigo Advertiser recently.