Recently, campaigners making efforts to decrease use of plastic bags met with disappointment as New World supermarkets and Four Square stores in the lower North Island having abolished automatic charging for the bags.

The reason for withdrawing the charges is the decline in number of consumers, as many of them had shifted to rival supermarkets because of the five cent per bag charge.

As per Foodstuffs, the owner of New World and Four Square, henceforth, the customers in the lower North Island don't need to pay for their plastic bags, which they were being charged from past month.

Now, it depends upon the customer whether he wants to pay for the bag. However, the environmental campaigners are not happy with this change.

According to Plastic bag campaigner Joshua Vile, it is not a case of the supermarkets losing money.

He continues, "It is just that they got some complaints, and backed down."

However, it should be noted that customers in the South Island and upper North Island still require paying five cents, along with all Pak 'n Save customers, which is also owned by Foodstuffs.