| Month | Percent |
| Apr-18 | 69.5 |
| May-18 | 73.7 |
| Jun-18 | 74.4 |
| Jul-18 | 76.7 |
| Aug-18 (Govt announces plans for ban) | 81.4 |
| Sep-18 | 82 |
| Oct-18 (Countdown bans single-use bags) | 92.4 |
| Nov-18 | 89.5 |
| Dec-18 (Govt ban to take effect from 1 July 2019) | 90.7 |
| Jan-19 (Other supermarkets ban single-use bags) | 96.2 |
| Feb-19 | 97.5 |
| Mar-19 | 97.2 |
| 65 | 73.9 |
|---|
| 68.8 | 78.6 |
| 68.2 | 80.5 |
| 70.9 | 82.5 |
| 77.2 | 85.5 |
| 76.9 | 87 |
| 89.8 | 95.1 |
| 86.3 | 92.6 |
| 87.3 | 94.2 |
| 94.8 | 97.6 |
| 96.5 | 98.6 |
| 96 | 98.4 |
Young people saw the biggest rise
While all age groups saw an increase in their household's reusable bag usage, households with young people saw the biggest rise.
In the first three months of the 2018/19 GSS collection (April, May, and June 2018), only 64 percent of 15-24-year-olds lived in households where at least one person usually took reusable bags when shopping, compared with 78 percent of people aged 65 or over. However, by the last three months of collection this proportion had increased to 96 percent and was not significantly different from other age groups.
| Age group (years) | First quarter |
| 15-24 | 63.9 |
| 25-44 | 69.7 |
| 45-64 | 76 |
| 65+ | 78.1 |
| 55.4 | 72.3 |
|---|
| 65.4 | 74 |
| 72.1 | 79.8 |
| 73.2 | 83.1 |
| Age group (years) | Last quarter |
| 15-24 | 96.2 |
| 25-44 | 95.5 |
| 45-64 | 98.5 |
| 65+ | 98.2 |
| 94 | 98.3 |
|---|
| 93.9 | 97.1 |
| 97.8 | 99.2 |
| 96.8 | 99.7 |
Note: Data for Stats NZ's 2018/19 General Social Survey (GSS) was collected between April 2018 and March 2019. The survey asked people a series of environmental questions including whether they, or someone in their household, composted, recycled, or took reusable bags when shopping. A small number of interviews took place in March 2018 and April 2019. These have been excluded from this analysis.
Single-use plastic shopping bags ban kicks in explains the Government's bag ban.
/Stats NZ Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full
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