A ban on single-use plastic bags proved the popularity of shopping baskets. Now Countdown is selling them.

Countdown has started selling plastic shopping baskets but the supermarket chain says it's not in response to their own baskets going missing.

The baskets are being sold in the company's 180 stores as an alternative to the reusable and paper bags already available.

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin, said the baskets were made by New Zealand plastic container Sistema using regrind plastic.

Regrind plastic is made from scrap resin collected during other manufacturing processes, ground down and re-used.

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"[It] is stronger than virgin plastic and can be recycled at the end of life," Hannifin said.

Plastic-free campaigner Trisia​ Farrelly said as long as the baskets were robust and long-lasting, they were likely to be a far better option than thin, short-lived plastic bags.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF The baskets are made from 'regrind' or scrap plastic and can be recycled.

"Something that's reusable, repurposed and recyclable sits much higher up the waste hierarchy than something that has a single use and can't be recycled," the Massey University environmental anthropologist and political ecologist said.

"If supermarkets are seeing this as an option, that's great.

"My concern would be if they were made using virgin plastic, which would just be adding to the volume of plastic in circulation."

MURRAY WILSON/STUFF Plastic-free campaigner Trisia​ Farrelly said the recyclable Sistema baskets were likely to be a much better option than plastic bags. (File photo)

Countdown removed single-use plastic bags from its stores in October 2018, ahead of a nationwide ban which came into effect in July last year.

The supermarket chain estimated the move had taken about 350 million bags out of circulation each year but it had also impacted supplies of shopping baskets.

A month after removing single-use plastic bags, Countdown Orewa had lost all but six of its 200 shopping baskets.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF Countdown is selling plastic shopping baskets as an alternative to reusable and paper bags.

About 250 baskets went missing in the Auckland suburb of Lynfield and Taranaki supermarkets also reported losses.

"Some stores have had a few teething issues with baskets going missing but we'd expect that to settle down once customers get into the habit of remembering their bags," a Countdown spokeswoman said at the time.

On Monday, Hannifin said the company had recovered many of those baskets during an amnesty and fewer were now going missing.

ANDY JACKSON/STUFF Hundreds of shopping baskets went missing from Countdown supermarkets after the company removed single-use plastic bags.

"Selling baskets in-store isn't in response to theft, it's in response to the popularity of bringing your own shopping vessel," she said.

"Basket theft has settled as people have got used to bringing their own bags."

The baskets cost $10 each, compared to $1 for a reusable bag or 20 cents for a paper bag.