Australia’s largest retailer of Christian products, Koorong, have joined the fight to get rid of plastic bags. Koorong sells their reusable bags for $1 and even gives customers a 10% discount off their next purchase if they remember to bring their bag back.

The decision to introduce reusable bags was two fold – Koorong wanted to boost the sales of the bags and do their bit for the environment.

“This discount was offered to encourage customers to buy reusable bags, and was available until Christmas 2005. It really helped to boost sales of the bags – since they were introduced in May 2005, we have sold almost 13,000,” said Koorong’s Managing Director, Paul Bootes.

“The secondary reason included a desire to be good corporate citizens and to adhere to the Christian worldview to look after the environment,” explained Paul.

Customers of Koorong’s 16 stores have embraced the initiative, with the first trial shipment of reusable bags selling out in a month. Even those customers who choose not to purchase a reusable bag are often saying no to a plastic bag when asked if they need one.

“Many of our customers are enthusiastic about this change as the recent sale of these bags demonstrates. Previously we had many negative comments about our use of plastic bags. Now we are able to offer a positive alternative,” said Rob Morris, Manager of Koroong’s West Ryde store in Sydney.

“At the Penrith store the idea of reusable bags has been a great success, mainly because of the 10% discount promotion. Staff in our store have also commented that the bags are easy to load and carry a lot,” said Penrith Store Manager, Warren Ward.

In the future Koorong may look at other initiatives to reduce plastic bag usage, such as charging customers for plastic bags and donating this money to charity, however this move is yet to be decided. “We’re thrilled about our customers’ support for the reusable bags and would consider opportunities to take this further in the future,” said Paul Bootes.