As of yesterday, a bag share bin has been placed outside Forbes’ three main supermarkets by the Forbes Environmentally Concerned Community Group in a bid to help local shoppers use environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags.

Members of the FECC Group Toni Hanns and Pip Perry said the idea behind the bins is to encourage local shoppers to use the bags in the bin if they have forgotten their own and return them to bin after their use.

Ms Hanns and Mr Perry said the bins are a great place to donate any wanted reusable shopping bags they may have at home but don’t use or no longer need.

Each of the bins has a clear front so shoppers can clearly see the bags inside.

The clear front has a two-fold affect – acting as a visual reminder to use environmentally friendly bags and deterring possible confusion of the bins’ use.

The concept of the community bag share bins was first rolled out by the Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group as a ‘Boomerang Bag Bin’.

Since then, the name has changed but the concept behind the bag share bins is still the same.

“It’s about making reusable bags readily available,” Mr Perry said.

“I think a lot of people understand the necessity of not using plastic bags. You can’t lecture them but you can encourage them.

“These bins are another way to increase awareness.

“People aren’t going to remember [to bring bags] all the time, but they may [through the campaign] forget less and less.”

To help kick-start the program each of the bins has been partially filled with reusable shopping bags donated by Landcare, the FECC Group and Centacare.

The bins measure around 90 centimetres by 50 centimetres and are located inside the doorways of Woolworths, Sullivans and Bernardi’s supermarkets.

Each of the bins was made and donated by Egan’s Building Supplies.

The signage was funded using grant money received by the FECC from Northparkes Mine and Barrick Cowal.