Council rubbish bags look to be the latest product to leach onto Dunedin's black market

The underground trade's been revealed after a man pleaded guilty to five charges of shoplifting yesterday.

$628 worth of Dunedin City Council rubbish bags were in his haul of stolen goods.

Prosecutor Sergeant Chris George told the court the bags are alarmingly expensive and that there's a blackmarket for them.

Widespread pilfering of the bags have seen supermarkets like Countdown pull the items from the shelves - and put them behind the counter.