Sack Your Bags

Whole Foods to stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day

Posted at 11:24 AM on 22 Jan 2008

Natural foods retailer Whole Foods has announced it will stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day due to the bags' ubiquity and associated environmental problems. The company is opting instead for bagging customers' groceries in 100 percent recycled paper bags and/or encouraging customers to bring their own reusable sacks. "More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don't break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides," said Whole Foods' A.C. Gallo. The grocery chain estimates that the plastic-bag ban at all its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. will eliminate the use of about 100 million plastic sacks between Earth Day and the end of 2008. All together, Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags each year.

sources: Whole Foods Market, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today

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Comments: (18 comments)

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good start - limit recyclable paper too

good start - limit recyclable paper too! I often worry that a company may shift to a paper bag, which a poor choice too.

It would be great to see a major retail store - doing give away of recycle bags for a limited period. This marketing idea would really help that company be popular and eco-encouraging. - Are you listening Wal-Mart?

p.s. congrates to the countries that have implemented 100% ban of plastic bags. Example Aus!

I only have this one life, so I am going to try my very best to make a positive change. --- The Happy & Healthy Vegan ---

by javaearth at 11:54 AM on 22 Jan 2008

Ban or tax?...

p.s. congrates to the countries that have implemented 100% ban of plastic bags. Example Aus!

I heard that were decidin' between either a ban or a tax, did they make a final decision and go with a ban?

by Tasermons Partner at 3:36 PM on 22 Jan 2008

Canvas bags

It's amazing how defensive some folks get at the grocery store when I haul out my canvas bags. I have had many people volunteer to me that they forgot their bags, that they keep meaning to get some and so forth.

One hardly needs to be an environmentalist to see that they're a good idea: they don't split and spill your groceries, have handles that dig into your hands, etc.

If we could get rid of plastic bags, think of how much less litter would be blowing around our cities, and swirling around the Pacific. One less object for people to be irresponsible with (one jillion to go).

Eat what you grow, grow what you eat

by PermieWriter at 3:59 PM on 22 Jan 2008

Ban All Throw Away Bags

People should bring their own canvas bags to stores. Consumption of paper or plastic bags causes ecological and environmental harms.

Next, let's eliminate the packaging industry. Everything that needs to be sold can be sold in bulk. People should bring their own reusable containers to stores, not consume more natural resources just to package their purchases. Only societies that have too much money can afford to waste resources on things like bags and packaging.

by Wolverine at 4:15 PM on 22 Jan 2008

Cool Reuse

reusable totebags http://totebags.filetap.com
a great way to for everyone to help keep down the trash heap

by carbonneutral at 5:57 PM on 22 Jan 2008

No bags in France

When I visited France in 2005 the local grocery stores had no bags nor did they "BAG" your groceries. They just piled up on the belt as the clerk wondered why we hadn't brought our bags. Colorful paper reusable shopping bags were available for purchase. No ugly brown please. Not in France.

But Wolverine, we can't eliminate the packaging industry entirely because of sanitary reasons, and practical reason. Meat, Milk, frozen products, most liquids, pastry, cottage cheese, peanut butter, jelly.

Bread you can carry bare uncovered under your sweaty armpit just like the French.

by Boyscientist at 6:04 PM on 22 Jan 2008

Our local WF gave us a fabric bag

because we spent over 60$. Not sure if that's just here, so ask when you go. They also say in their press release that they'll have 99-cent bags that are made from plastic bottles.

by sherrieh at 10:04 AM on 23 Jan 2008

WF's joining the crowd

It is a good start, having a (major) market force institute a green change, but their estimated 100 million bags removed from the planet pales in the face of China's recently announced ban on the same bags. It was stated that the Chinese use and dispose of some 3 billion (yes again thats billion with a B) a day...

by srymmes at 11:01 AM on 23 Jan 2008

Bag it

I am on board this train.Now get a business like Walmart to actually do something green,rather than just talk about it and we might be getting somewhere.

Why not ask why!?

by usandthem at 11:37 AM on 23 Jan 2008

I'd like to see them get rid of all the plastic.

I have't been able to get a fresh loaf of bread or fresh pastry in my local store lately. Everything is wrapped in plastic.
I would like to shop in a store that had a service butcher,a bakery, and a greengrocer.
But alas, out side of the big city, I don't know where they are.
Nora

by norascats at 2:41 PM on 23 Jan 2008

The Chinese Ban

Will take effect on June 1st. There are already news stories interviewing people. A few think it will be inconvenient, but most people accept that it is worthwhile for the environment. Business accepts it (publicly) since everyone has to do it at the same time and thus the playing field and inconvience is level.

When I go to the market and refuse bags (now), people smile (I see some Chinese folks doing the same, the advanced wave!!).

There is a real advantage to having the government make this a law nationwide.

patrick in Beijing

by bookerly at 5:29 PM on 23 Jan 2008

To Boyscientist

The packaging industry is relatively new. Everything used to be sold in bulk; things that cannot be sold that way should be eliminated as being unnecessary and too environmentally harmful. And BTW, I buy peanut butter in bulk and have been for decades.

by Wolverine at 7:00 PM on 23 Jan 2008

it is like pulling teeth

Aus is banning bags by end of 2008.

America needs to too. It really sucks that we are behind on these simple things. Getting anything green done around here it is like pulling teeth!

The thinking: "if there is no money in it for me, then I do not care!"

I only have this one life, so I am going to try my very best to make a positive change. --- The Happy & Healthy Vegan ---

by javaearth at 8:00 AM on 24 Jan 2008

Canvas bags the way to go....

but there will always be things that need to have their own container. Wolverine, I like natural peanut butter as much as the next guy, but I'm confused about how you do away with packaging when you buy bulk peanut butter. Do you, like, fill up your pockets? :-). I've been grocery shopping for about 50 years, and there have always been items that weren't appropriate for bulk sale. I don't remember seeing a communal toothpaste bucket at the store where I'd scoop out what I need. Milk has always come in unit packaging. And, I prefer canvas bags to recyclable bags because some recycle markets are getting saturated; in many cases it's just better to have something you can reuse yourself.

by rong at 1:46 PM on 24 Jan 2008

Reduce and reuse, not recycle.

In response to the comment that we can't completely eliminate packaging industry, i say, we should do as much as we can.
Whole Foods already has milk bottles that can be returned to the store for a refund. These bottles are refilled rather than recycled. We hope they will start such return-refill juice bottles, yogurt-cans and such too.

Stopping plastic bags is not enough. They should have additional charge for the forgetful people instead of giving out free paper-bags (even if it is 100% recycled). That will hopefully force people to remember to carry their own bags.

by uma at 10:45 AM on 26 Jan 2008
[ Parent ]

The World Without Us: Comment IV

Posted this in the weekend book club thread, but it fits here...

---

OMG... I read the chapter about plastic last night. I will not try to provide details. Let just say: even "biodegradable" plastic bags don't break down once they end up in the water; the island of plastic in the Pacific weighs more than the phytoplankton living in the area and is growing; and as plastic enters the environment it simply fragments into smaller and smaller pieces, choking and killing smaller and smaller animals, right down to microscopic beasties. An examination of a certain bird found along an English coast -- I think -- revealed that 95% of the dead birds found had plastic blocking their digestive tracts. And plastic, especially buried stuff that might be exposed to the environment long long long after we are gone, will probably be killing animals for tens of thousands of years. Bacteria that can digest oil emerged quickly. No sign of bacteria that can digest plastic.
Depressing? Yes.

Sure makes it easier to answer the "paper or plastic" question. Very few organisms will be choking on paper bags tens of thousands of years from now!

Hope no one is upset by the duplicate post!

Peace.

by wiscidea at 10:55 AM on 26 Jan 2008

Update

I am not sure what will end up replacing plastic bags here, certainly a mixture of reusable things (historically, people carried baskets to go shopping, and I have heard some people advocating a return to those ways).

The bigger markets have started to put up posters near the cash registers telling people to reject plastic bags and to bring in their own reusable bags.

Usually, people have to check packages and bags when they enter big supermarkets (this checking is free, and actually is fairly convenient).

A couple of times lately, I have been waved through with my backpack, and thus able to fill it up at the register. I see a very few other people doing this. But it's early. Still January, and the ban takes effect in roughly five months.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out!

by bookerly at 11:23 PM on 27 Jan 2008

Fun canvas bags!

I just bought some bags from bukabags.com. They're not your usual boring reusable bags available at grocery stores. And you get cash back at Whole Foods for using them. I hope they inspire other people to have fun recycling!!

by treehuggin at 5:45 PM on 10 Mar 2008

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