"Many customers are still finding themselves a bag or two short at the register and we want to do the right thing by them during this transition period," Mr Durkan's note says. "I appreciate this transition phase is taking longer than anticipated, but it is absolutely the right thing to do by our customers." Mr Durkan said everyone at Coles should be pleased with the progress it was making towards its sustainability goals, which include halving its food waste by 2020, making all home-brand product packaging recyclable by 2020, and diverting 90 per cent of all waste from landfill by 2022. 'Bad old days' Loading Coles originally removed single-use plastic bags from its checkouts nationwide in July as a growing number of state governments outlaw them on environmental grounds, but has delayed charging customers for its reusable "Better Bags" amid complaints from some customers.

Greenpeace estimates that 50 million plastic bags end up in Australia's waterways and oceans every year.