Paper or Plastic Not an Option at California Wal-Mart’s: Stores that offer incentives, rebates and eliminates use of plastic bag use
Posted by lindseyshoe
Paper or plastic used to be the question of the day when shopping. Find out what retailers are doing about that question and why.
Countries, cities, stores and currently many sections of federal, state, and local U.S. governments are attempting to find ways to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags and encourage consumers to bring home the bacon in a reusable shopping bag or tote.
Several countries have banned the use of plastic shopping bags, including Buenos Aires, Zanzibar, Bangladesh, and China, and have outlawed the use of plastic shopping bags. Ireland, Finland, and Australia are among those that have enacted a “tax” on plastic bag use. In Australia, as of 4 May, 2009, fines will be imposed of up to $5,000 AUD (approximately $3,500 USD) on retailers using that type of bag.
San Francisco has banned the use of plastic shopping bags and is working on stopping the use of paper bags with an ordinance designed to save the 14 million trees cut down each year to supply paper bags nationwide. Other cities may be starting to follow suit – including Oakland and Boston. Find out what stores in Reno are doing to eliminate plastic bag usage with this retail action plan by a store put together by the Chamber of Commerce.
Wal-Mart has joined the ranks of those trying to eliminate the paper or plastic decision. Three stores in Folsom and Citrus Heights, California now require shoppers to either bring their own bags or pay fifteen cents ($.15) for a reusable bag at checkout, or $.50 for the plus size bag. This is a real steal of a deal, considering that reusable shopping bags are $1.00 each and are not only handy for carrying your groceries, but may be used for many other tasks too. Though Wal-Mart has begun this program with three stores, it will be introducing this program in stores throughout Northern California this month. This is part of Wal-Mart’s goal to reduce its waste by 33% by 2013, and hopes that charging for bags is a step in the right direction. Maybe California should talk to the Wal-Mart stores in New York, who were recently discovered cutting clothing and dumping the waste because it did not sell, instead of donating it to local charities and shelters.
Wal-Mart is not the first store to provide shoppers with incentives to use reusable shopping bags. But “Once you make a change at Wal-Mart, it will ripple through the U.S.,” said Michelle Harvey, who works on corporate sustainability for the Environmental Defense Fund in Arkansas.
What other stores are doing.
What other stores with no plastic bag use incentives are out there?
Ralphs offers customers a nickel back for every bag they don’t use. The credits accumulate on the shopper’s rewards card and are paid out every quarter. This has been going on for quite some time. “Ralphs has a long-standing commitment to the environment. This is just another way to help,” Ralphs spokeswoman Kendra Doyel said.
Recently, CVS Pharmacy and Target began offering incentives to their customers to switch to using reusable shopping bags. CVS’ “GreenBagTag” program gives loyalty card shoppers a $1 reward for every four times they leave the store without taking a plastic bag. “If we can tie rewards to helping the environment, it will be a winner,” said Melissa Studzinski, director of marketing for CVS.
Target’s program offers shoppers a nickel discount for every reusable bag.
Albertsons offers $.05 for every bag customers use. There is no rebate for recycling bags. The stores’ recycle bins accept grocery, dry cleaning, and newspaper bags. Last year, the company recycled 13.9 million pounds of plastic.
Whole Foods has several options available: free paper bags in different sizes made from recycled paper, reusable bags from recycled plastic bottles available for purchase, and a rebate program that takes $.05 to $.10 off each bill for using your own bags.
Kroger’s offered a $.10 rebate, but has done away with that program.
IKEA stores in the U.S. began, in March 2009, to charge a nickel per plastic bag. Proceeds from this campaign to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags will go to American Forests, the nation’s oldest non-profit citizen’s conservation organization. IKEA offers a reusable ‘Big Blue Bag’ for $.59. “We realize that our ‘Bag the Plastic Bag Program’ is a small step. But we know our customers want to help and support the sustainability of our planet – for today – and for the future of our children. This program lets our customers know we have our stake in the ground and are committed to continuing to be an environmentally responsible company,” says Pernille Spiers-Lopez, president of IKEA North America. IKEA projects that the number of plastic bags used by their U.S. customers will be reduced by at least 50%, from 70 million to 35 million in the first year.
As you release yourself from plastic bag bondage, be sure to dispose properly of your plastic shopping bags in every room of your home. Read the “fine print” at stores recycling centers carefully to make sure that your recycling efforts are the best they can be.
Fast facts about plastic bags
-Plastic bags are made with oil. “Unlike paper bags, plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource. Plastics are a by-product of the oil-refining process, accounting for about four percent of oil production around the globe.” (Treehugger.com)
- Green house gas emissions and pollution are created as a result of manufacturing plastic bags.
- Plastic bags are not biodegradable. It actually takes more money to recycle these bags (when people do recycle them) than it does to create them. “It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32″ (Jared Blumenfeld, director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment as reported by Christian Science Monitor). If it costs more to recycle them than it does to produce them, recycling is not an option. This is simple economics.
- Plastic bags clog waterways, causing flooding and a breakdown of the natural water resources.
- Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down when they end up in landfills.
When they do break down, the chemicals used – such as oil or petroleum – end up poisoning our water and ground.
- They cause a danger to birds, pets, and wildlife. The handles get wrapped around necks, choking them. They are mistaken for food and cause choking or suffocation.
- Not just wildlife or pets are in danger – small children and infants also can suffocate from exposure to plastic bags. They are everywhere and it’s hard to keep track of them, especially in the car, or to keep them carefully locked away in the house.
- According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 99% of plastic bags end up in the trash.
what ever happened to good ol canvas reusable bags???