Coles is under pressure to reveal how many plastic bags it's using after the Woolworths Group said it was handing out more than 3.2 billion a year.
Woolworths last week vowed to phase out single-use, light-weight plastic bags at the group's supermarkets, Big W and BWS stores within 12 months.
In the process, it revealed it uses 3.2 billion bags annually.
Veteran ban-the-bags campaigner John Dee says Coles must now reveal its usage rates, after also agreeing to a 12-month phase out.
He estimates Coles - which has about 800 supermarkets compared to about 990 for Woolies - are using between two billion and 2.5 billion a year, and possibly more.
Mr Dee, whose not-for-profit environmental group DoSomething! has been demanding action on plastic bags for 15 years, says that means the government's own figure of four billion bags a year is dramatically wrong.
"If you're going to have a plastic bag phase out, you need to be able to measure what you're phasing out," he said
"By publicly disclosing their figures, Woolworths is now in a position to transparently report to the public and government on how they are progressing with their phase out. Coles are really obligated to do the same."
Coles refused to disclose the number of single-use bags its stores used each year when contacted by AAP.
A spokesman said the supermarket chain already had "reusable bags on sale at a range of price points" that started at 15 cents.
"As part of our commitment to better environmental outcomes, Coles will also continue to offer recycling bins for soft plastics at 630 of our stores, the largest retailer-operated recycling program of its type in Australia," he said.
Mr Dee also called on IGA stores to get rid of light-weight, single-use bags within one year.
"They have more stores than Coles or Woolies," at 1400, he said.
The chairman of IGA National Retailer Council, Ian Ashcroft, said they had committed to being free of single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags within twelve months.
"Many IGA retailers across Australia already have implemented this in store, along with a range of alternatives such as cardboard boxes, boomerang bags and reusable bags," he said
An ALDI spokeswoman said it had never offered single-use plastic bags to shoppers and encouraged customers to bring their own shopping bags or purchase reusable bags.
"ALDI believes that it makes good business sense to protect and preserve the environment," she told AAP.
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