How healthy is it that every single animal on our planet now has plastic – microscopic – in their bodies? Plastic never breaks down and goes back to soil. It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and goes in to the food chain where we all ingest it, eat it, drink it. A few germs on a recycled bag are less of a health risk than petrochemicals in the food chain. Your body builds up immunity to germs but it can't handle plastic inside you.

Why wouldn't you use a recycled bag? You can also make your own or buy your own. They are so much stronger than plastic. If you think using a recycled bag is that bad, instead of complaining maybe you could wash it when you take it home. 

 How inspiring! Good on IGA Dungog. If you're worried about the recycled hygiene issue then just make your own and be sure to use it solely for yourself.

If you knew what plastics were doing to the world, you would be all for it.

Fantastic :-) I'm excited to see them circulating around town.

So awesome. I'm so inspired by these wonderful people changing our bad habits into good ones. As for hygiene issues – there's probably as many germs on the trolley bar or the snot floating in the pool. Yay for summer.

You can always bring your own bags.

It’s a good idea. But don’t get me wrong – I use the plastic bags for lots of things, plus I donate them to Food War at the Terrace and Beresfield. And I find they are really good in summer for wet clothes, especially the soiled ones. What’s next – are they going to stop nappy bags? Every one uses the plastic bags for lots of things.

To the people commenting here that they wouldn't use green bags for hygiene reasons, you clearly have less than a rudimentary understanding of microbiology. That door handle you used to open a door earlier today posed a risk of infection an order of magnitude greater than what you are fearing from a shopping bag. That person you chatted to in the supermarket? You inhaled their common cold virus as they spoke to you while their green bag sat there posing no risk to your health at all. What about the meat and veggies you just bought? Do you think the people who produce and handle these things use tongs or something? Re-using cloth bags for carrying food poses an insignificant risk to health while reducing the use of petrochemical products and reducing waste. Just do it.

Take a bag and keep it! You don't have to return it as long as you keep using it. Then you know where it's been and you can wash it yourself. It's not that hard and you will keep thousands of bags out of landfill and the ocean every year.

It's a great program. The bags can be used and returned and they will be washed regularly by the Boomerang Bag volunteers, or you can keep and wash them yourself.