Coles has moved away from its original plan to ban free plastic bags from 1 August, with a decision to continue providing free reusable bags to customers.

After banning single-use plastic bags at the beginning of July, the pressure of the public has led to Coles making this quick turn around in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.

Originally Coles told all customers that, as of 1 August, they would have to pay an additional 15 cents for a reusable bag when purchasing products.

Greenpeace says that the Coles decision is disappointing and irresponsible, as providing plastic bags is prolonging the problem of plastic waste.

“This decision makes a complete mockery of Coles’ claim to want to reduce plastic waste and is a betrayal of the millions of their customers who want the supermarket to do the right thing in favour of a vocal minority,” spokeswoman Zoe Dean told the AAP.

However, there has been a range of responses from the Australian public over social media.

Dean told AAP that the ban of single-use plastic bags was a result of public demand to stop plastic bag use.

“While a minority of people are struggling to cope, we know it’s just a matter of time for people to adapt to the change,” she said.

In late June Woolworths had a similar problem with the public while phasing out single-use plastic bags.

Customers who experienced issues with adapting to this change were given a further ten days of receiving complimentary reusable bags, which was met with similar backlash.