So where does Eden sit, and how willing are we to go plastic-free?

It appears the first focus by anti-plastic campaigners is the elimination of plastic shopping bags, and this was certainly the case during the successful anti-plastic campaign initiated in Mallacoota late last year, which incredibly enlisted both local supermarkets in the cause.

But Eden IGA supermarket owner and manager Sandeep Sandeep said he felt elimination of  plastic shopping bags was “impossible”.

“I’m focused on substitution rather than elimination, so we’re now using biodegradable ‘Return to Earth’ bags at our check-out,” Mr Sandeep said.

The makers of these bags promise 100 per cent biodegradability, but with manufacture and material of plastic bags such an unknown, activist Tania Potts says the real ‘biodegradability’ remains questionable.

“The bags are normally a blend of quickly degraded plastic and cellulose, but there’s still plastic,” she said during a Q&A session following the screening of the documentary Bag It at the Sapphire Marine Discovery Centre on Tuesday night, January 12.

“The best thing to do is eliminate plastic completely.”

Mr Sandeep’s attempt at a more environmental check-out is an honourable start, especially when you consider the horrific statistics of plastic bag use, the biggest culprit of which is the supermarket trade.

It’s estimated one trillion bags are used and discarded worldwide each year, with Australians using over 10million bags every day and dumping 500,000 bags into landfills every hour.

These statistics can either intimidate or motivate, and for Merimbula local Trish Howard it’s the latter. 

She’s spear-heading a plastic-free Bega Shire campaign and is setting her sights on, yes, you guessed it, plastic-heavy Eden, with aspirations to introduce the fabric “boomerang bag” initiative to eliminate plastic bags.

”I plan to talk to the Eden IGA soon,” Ms Howard said on Tuesday, January 12.

Ready for plastic-free shopping Eden?