Canberra, Apr 18 (IANS): Woolworths, one of Australia's major supermarket chain, has begun removing reusable plastic shopping bags from shelves in three states.

"Over the coming weeks, the supermarket will gradually run down stock of the 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags across New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, in a move that will see more than 9,000 tonnes of plastic removed from circulation annually across the country," the supermarket chain said in a statement.

The 15-cent bags are made from at least 80 per cent recycled plastic, reports Xinhua news agency.

In June last year, Woolworths pledged to phase out its 15-cent shopping bags across the country in a gradual manner.

Prior to that, changes had already taken place in Western Australia, where Woolworths supermarkets started eliminating their plastic bags in March last year.

According to the newly-released statement, Woolworths has already removed these bags from stores across Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia over the past 12 months, with customers responding well to the change.