Adelaide supermarkets first in Australia to replace plastic food bags with cornstarch compostables in 2020

The compostable cornstarch bags introduced in all fresh food departments at Adelaide's Frewville and Pasadena Foodland stores.

Two Adelaide supermarkets, the Frewville and Pasadena Foodland stores, were the first in Australia to eliminate single-use plastic fruit and vegetable bags in September 2020 and replace them with compostable cornstarch ones.

All single-use plastic bags in the fresh food – including the bakery and deli – departments throughout the stores were replaced with Australian-certified 100% compostable bags, made at Netley in Adelaide by BioBag World Australia. These bags break down just like plants in a composting environment and could go straight into the household green bin or home compost bin with food scraps.

This game-changing initiative was in partnership with KESAB (Keep South Australia Beautiful) and aim ed to save more than three million single-use plastic bags per year from going into landfill.

The Foodland initative coincided with the South Australian parliament passing laws to ban the use of single use plastic items such as straws, cutlery and drink stirrers.

The Frewville and Pasadena Foodland stores are owned by the Chapley family’s Commercial Retail Group. Its Frewville outlet won the international retailer of the year excellence award at the IGA (Independent Grocers Alliance) conference in the United States in 2016 and again in 2017. The award was judged on the merchandising and range of products, employee development, leadership and innovation and community involvement. The stores have policies such as no self-service outlets.

Woolworths' South Australian stores also were its first in Australia to use compostable bags in 2022.