Sustainable Wanaka and GetReal campaigners are celebrating at Wanaka New World Supermarket, where plastic bags now cost 5c each, by giving away 200 cloth bags and 60 sausages.
Tomorrow, Wanaka Wastebusters staff will open the new "Ed-Space" at the recycling and greenwaste centre on Ballantyne Rd, with cake, bubbles and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
A charge for plastic bags was introduced nationwide on Monday by New World, Four Square and Pak`n Save stores.
Sustainable Wanaka general manager Sophie Ward said a survey of 85 shoppers conducted in the last two weeks found 87% supported a plastic bag charge, and 89% believed the charge would be good for the environment.
"We were delighted to see such strong support for the end to free plastic bags and so we decided to throw a party," Ms Ward said.
Wanaka New World store manager Dean Bartley said the proceeds would go to Keep NZ Beautiful.
GetReal spokesman Gwilym Griffith-Jones said the charge was likely to make a big difference to people's behaviour.
The transition to reusable bags should be quite easy for Wanaka because the town was "already halfway there".
Meanwhile, Wanaka Wastebusters has finally turned a dream of an education space into a reality.
The Ed-Space will be opened at 11am tomorrow and will add a new dimension to Wastebusters, general manager Sue Coutts said.
"We've always been really good at the practical side of recycling and reuse, but we haven't always had the time to tell people about how we do it and why we do it," Ms Coutts said.
