From August 3, New World and Four Square stores nationwide, and Pak`n Save stores in the South Island, will charge per plastic bag, with several shoppers questioning the move.
"We are paying for them anyway in the cost of our groceries . . . This is just another charge and a bit of a nuisance," Shirley McCormack, of Dunedin, said.
Tammy Rossiter said Pak`n Save charged for plastic bags in her home town of Hamilton and she found the policy "annoying".
However, her friend Kate Martin said the move was a "fantastic idea", but the supermarkets should reduce the price of reusable shopping bags to encourage shoppers away from plastic bags.
A nationwide "Get Real" campaign pushing for a levy on plastic supermarket bags was launched last month.
Get Real campaigner Angus Ho, of Wanaka, was thrilled by the announcement and the organisation would now target rival chain Progressive Enterprises.
Representatives will display a banner with hundreds of messages forming the words "no bags" in front of Countdown's Moorhouse Ave store in Christchurch today.
They want Progressive Enterprises - which operates Foodtown, Countdown and Woolworths supermarkets - to also start charging for bags.
Mr Ho said shoppers should "support Foodstuffs" for their stance, which would help pressure Progressive into charging for plastic bags.
Both supermarket chains signed the Packaging Accord in 2004 which set a goal of reducing the number of bags used by a fifth (144 million bags) this year.
Foodstuffs have reduced plastic-bag use by 19% since July 2007 with new packaging techniques and the sale of reusable shopping bags, managing director Tony Carter said.
"While we have made good progress . . . we now need to take the next step in dramatically reducing the consumption of plastic bags," he said.
A trial by the Australian National Retailers Association found plastic-bag consumption reduced by 80% when a charge was introduced, he said.
Last month, The Warehouse announced it would introduce a levy of 10c per plastic bag from today.
