A few weeks ago I’d written about taking reusable shopping bags with you when you go to the grocery store. Because I wanted to highlight the stores that reward you for bringing your own bag. In response to that post, I started doing some research into exactly which stores gave what kind of benefits. I did this because the information I was getting from everyone but the retailers themselves was conflicting.
I quickly discovered that supermarkets are notoriously private about their business practices. Despite reaching out to all of the major supermarket chains in the United States, I heard back from only two: Hannaford’s and Giant/Martin’s.
Here’s what the Hannaford’s spokesperson told me about the store’s policy. Note: I got this email in January:
“Hannaford currently provides at .05- cent credit per bag when customers bring in re-usable bags. We also have a long-standing policy of collecting any plastic bags customers use and return to our stores. We don’t own any other supermarkets. Hannaford stores operate in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Our policies are directed more at encouraging re-use and reducing the waste stream of plastic bags. Most customers are telling us that their motivation for bringing reusable bags also is mainly about reducing the waste stream. On the savings side of things, they express the greatest interest in weekly sale specials and private brand products, such as Hannaford brand and Nature’s Place organic and natural foods.”
The Giant/Martin’s spokesperson sent me this message:
“Until 2007, we offered a Bring Your Own Bag program which gave customers a 3-cent refund for reusing their own bags. The BYOB program was not widely used by customers and, therefore, was discontinued in favor of the broader appeal of an affordable, reusable option. Customers can still bring their own bags with them when they shop but they don’t receive an additional discount when they do. You might be interested to know that we continue to encourage our customers to recycle their plastic bags as well. There are plastic recycling bins in the vestibules of all of our stores. Giant works with Trex to turn customers’ old plastic bags into park benches. Since 1997, we have donated more than 1,300 park benches to fire departments, churches, schools, parks, playgrounds and libraries to help beautify local communities.”
Now I just discovered that Hannaford Brothers has stopped giving a bag credit all together. For the time being they are handing out their reusable shopping bags for free (they normally cost $.99) to customers that are already using reusable bags. But the financial benefit of bringing your own bag to Hannaford’s is no more.
Whether or not it’s worth it to you to bring your own bag, if you do take a plastic bag, please recycle it in the collection bins you see outside of supermarkets. For example, Giant works with Trex (as mentioned above) to turn those bags into building materials. If you ever wondered exactly what came of all that, consider these stats from Trex itself:
- 600 million – Pounds of plastic and wood scrap that Trex salvages and keeps out of landfills each year
- 1.5 billion – Recycled grocery bags used to manufacture Trex products each year
According to Trex, the average 500-square-foot composite Trex deck contains about 140,000 recycled plastic bags.
Now that’s pretty cool.
I have a feeling that the following is going to happen in the near future: instead of rewarding us for bringing our own bags, all retailers are going to follow in IKEA’s footsteps and start charging for you to take a bag, like Washington DC is considering doing. Once people have to start paying for their own bags, they’ll figure out real fast that bringing their own bags is the most economical way to get your groceries home. Then again there’s always empty boxes, like the kind you pick up at BJs and Costco.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
We’re Americans living in Europe (my husband is in the US military) and it’s standard practice in Europe to charge customers for bags. The charges vary from $.05 and up to over $1.00, usually depending on the quality of the bag. This includes grocery stores. So, woe is me when I forget to bring in my own bag when I go somewhere shopping. But, it’s always a good excuse to buy another reusable bag when I do, since they have so many uses….
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I’m in favor of charging for taking a bag. It’s the incentive consumers need to byob. Also, this will cut down on the plastic bags we get when we purchase a small item that we could carry out by hand. I remember my bags 75% of the time and love it every time I do.
I live in New Jersey, and predominately shop at a Stop & Shop supermarket. They provide $.05 credit per bag that you bring. Trader Joe’s in Westfield, NJ enters you into a give-away/sweepstakes promotion if you bring in your own bags (I’ve yet to win, of course, but will continue to bring my own).
We used to have a big giant plastic bag filled with smaller bags by our back door. I recently noticed that there is only ONE bag left in there since we now bring our own bags into most stores. Very happy to see that my husband and I have made positive changes.
I do most of my shopping at Whole Foods and they credit me $0.05 per bag I bring with me.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see stores charging for bags. I think it’s a great idea.
When Ireland implemented a similar policy several years ago, plastic bag use decreased by nearly 90%.
I switched to reusable bags & LOVED them….not only was I saving a little money & helping the environment, but they are MUCH easier to use than the plastic grocery bags. Unfortunately, I now get grocery delivery from Peapod & find that they use WAY MORE bags than necessary! I’ll get many bags w/ just one item in them! There has to be a way to help decrease the use of plastic bags in grocery delivery.
By the way – my favorite reusable bags are http://www.whatsurbag-usa.com/
Darcie:
Even though you are getting your groceries delivered, you should ask Peapod whether they can accommodate you by reusing your bags. When I was ordering my groceries online via ShopRite at Home, they kept a stash of my bags on premises, and I just gave them a new stash of bags whenever I picked up my groceries. We just switched bags back and forth whenever I had a grocery order filled. Why wouldn’t Peapod offer something similar? Let me know if you succeed in this request.
I live in the San Francisco East Bay, and my Safeway gives a $.03 per bag credit (when they remember). I usually have to ask. I try to remember to take my bags with me when I go to other stores (not just grocery). Yes, clothes, makeup, etc. can go in a reusable too! One bad experience: a Longs Drugsstore employee looked at my bags like he’d never seen reusables. He set them aside, pulled out a plastic, and started packing my items. I said, “No, no–that’s why I brought my bags.” He removed my things, put them in my reusable bag, and then threw the plastic bag in the garbage!! Sigh…there’s still much educating to me done.
Yes, education is everything, isn’t it? Thanks for posting a comment.
Leah: I just wrote a column profiling 3 fashionable and sturdy reusable shopping bags. http://tinyurl.com/a9lgr9
In researching the topic, I came across an astonishing statistic -
“It costs $4,000 to create one ton of recycled plastic from thin plastic bags.. That ton is worth $32 on the retail market.”
Regardless of whether or not stores give consumers an “incentive” to use their own bags, seems like it’s just plain commonsense – and good economics – to bring your own.
Debra
I also saw grocery stores charging for plastic bags when we lived abroad, and that was 7 years ago. Why is the US so slow about some of these things? I also was in a shoe store in Switzerland when I saw a man purchase a pair of shoes, hand his old shoes to the sales clerk, and walk out wearing his new ones. My Swiss friend explained that residents are charged according to how much trash they produce, and the man was reducing his household trash by leaving his old shoes at the store!
Halo Farms, over by the Trenton Farmers Market, charges $.07 per plastic bag (their bags) if you put less than 3 items in each bag. Good idea, I think — it encourages people to think about it before they take a bag, or use more than they need.
Halo Farms–why is that ringing a bell? Do they have an ice cream shop in Mercerville or something?
They have the “Halo Pubs” in Princeton and Hamilton Square — Halo Farms is their microdairy. Great place!! No antibiotics or growth hormones used in their milk. Half gallon of milk is $1.11 and 3 pints of their ice cream (same as what they serve in their Pubs) are only $4. I love getting farm-fresh produce at the farmers market then heading right next door to Halo Farms.
Buelhers Markets in Ohio offer .05 refund for
each bag you bring with you. The store is really
very customer oriented, with a great staff that will ask if you brought bags to re-use.
Kathy
Re: forgetting to bring your cloth bags when you do your food shopping…..a light bulb went off…. now I clip my list to one of them and I’m set to go
Re: recycled plastic bags being turned into Trex. My 12 yr. old deck is made of Trex and it’s terrific. There’s no maintenance involved and, like the pink bunny, it keeps going and going and going…..
In the US, I think a reward scheme is common culture over a punishment/penalty scheme?
I am wondering if giving incentives to customers for bringing own bags would be done better through use of forever-usable coupon.
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Big problems with cloth bags from home are:
1. Dirty bags brought into store, cow smells.
2. Bags brought in with mice in them.
3. Home made bags .
Home made bags are often poorly designed,either too deep and narrow or so wide everything tips over. Saw one once the straps were sewed so they
criss crossed,try filling that one! rarely are they made with a flat bottom so they will sit upright on the check out counter.
Not against bags from home, but they need to be CLEAN!
Seven years experience dealing with this.
Damn! I just typed a whole long comment and then the screen went funny when I hit the submit button. Is it in moderation or do i have to type it all out again?
Yes, comments are moderated the first time you post a comment on this blog. Or if the Askimet thinks it’s spam.
People who recycle their plastic bags instead of using reusable bags are fooling themselves if they think they are helping the environment. Sure, it keeps the bags out of the landfill, but there is a huge energy cost in transporting and re-processing the bags.
Recycling helps, but doesn’t come close to reusing.
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I also was in a shoe store in Switzerland when I saw a man purchase a pair of shoes, hand his old shoes to the sales clerk, and walk out wearing his new ones.