Whole Foods Chain to Stop Use of Plastic Bags

Source: New York Times

By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: January 23, 2008

The Whole Foods Market chain said Tuesday that it would stop offering plastic grocery bags, giving customers instead a choice between recycled paper or reusable bags.

A rising number of governments and retailers are banning plastic bags, or discouraging their use, because of concerns about their environmental impact. San Francisco banned plastic bags last year unless they are of a type that breaks down easily. China announced a crackdown on plastic bags a few weeks ago, while other governments, including New York City’s, are making sure retailers offer plastic bag recycling....

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Plastic bags have become ubiquitous because they are lightweight, cheap and functional. Critics complain that the bags are bad for the environment because they are made from petroleum, are typically tossed after one use, fill landfills, and float into trees, rooftops, roadways and oceans. They also do not break down easily in a landfill.

An industry organization called the Progressive Bag Alliance, however, counters on its Web site that plastic bags take less energy to produce than paper bags and generate less waste, a position backed by at least one study of the issue. The group also argues that virtually nothing decomposes in modern landfills, including paper and plastic....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/business/23bags.html

:P

We've probably all accumulated enough plastic bags to out last your dog and its progeny.

Some nutty urbanite lady came to my folk's Christmas Tree farm a couple years ago. She dutifully scooped her dog's poop into a plastic bag and ceremoniously left it on the stone wall.

I guess the concept of high grass alluded her entirely.

It is surprising that one of the largest food suppliers to the US has acknowledged a "green" policy, much less say they are implementing it. I see an anti-green lobbiest had enough pull to get their voice included in this announcement.

Yay Whole Foods. Go green!

since the point is that nothing breaks down in a landfill anyway and that soil (while it may be built over) is not going to be productive for thousands of years anyway. For that matter, I'm not sure I would want all those materials decomposing and leaching into the groundwater anyway.

They are ittering nuisance, and make quite a sight blowing around by the Freshkills landfill, but paper has its own environmental issues. And reusable bags are only useful if you have bags at home and leave from there intending to make a trip to the grocery store.

Put your reusable bags back in the car after unloading groceries. That way, you always have them. I'm able to survive doing this and I have a mere sedan.

And you can get reusable bags made from all that "white pollution," as those blowing bags are called. There's a whole industry built around making stuff from those bags (second link).

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0721-04.htm

http://www.greatgreengoods.com/2006/05/22/recycled-jewelry-from-plastic-bags-3/

The grocery store is usually an after work stop on the bus. My day goes thus:

Get up
Put dog out
get showered and ready
Get kid up
Let dog in
Get all my crap together
Get kid's crap together
Run like crazy for the bus we are about to miss again
Drop kid off at sitters
transfer to 2nd bus
work
leave work
get on bus
get off bus
shop
get on 1st bus
get off 1st bus
get on 2nd bus
call to make sure kid is ready to jump on bus at stop nearest sitters
kid gets on bus
we get off
walk home from stop lugging all of our work/school crap in addition to the groceries

I use the bags for my recycling and for dog poop. I almost never just throw one away. I also put the ones I can't use for recycling into the bag recycling bin about once every 3 months.

If you aren't using a car, you probably aren't using more than a few bags at one time, which means they'd be small enough to smash into a pocket or the bottom of a purse.

People in other cultures - even in industrialized countries and even in areas where people aren't so dependent on private automobiles - manage to reuse shopping bags all the time, or use backpacks or baskets. Realistically, if you can carry bags full of groceries at this stage:

"shop
get on 1st bus
get off 1st bus
get on 2nd bus
call to make sure kid is ready to jump on bus at stop nearest sitters
kid gets on bus
we get off
walk home from stop lugging all of our work/school crap in addition to the groceries"

you can carry a couple of empty plastic bags at this stage:
"Run like crazy for the bus we are about to miss again
Drop kid off at sitters
transfer to 2nd bus
work
leave work
get on bus
get off bus"

I'm not trying to single you out, it's cultural, I know that. I'm just saying that eventually we all WILL have to change our attitudes about being a throwaway society, and some of the excuses we use really aren't valid if you break them down and look at them.

It's part of what is pushing me more and more toward fresh whole foods. I love marinated artichokes, for instance. But the last time I put them in my cart, I started looking at that glass jar they came in, and thinking about how we can't all just keep thinking it's okay that we put a jar that size into a landfill every time we want a snack this size ... that's an insane system. I ended up sadly putting it back on the shelf. I think it's how we all have to start thinking.

If you do have a car, you don't have to use bags at all if you forgot them. Stores now (at least by me) will let you just put the groceries unbagged into the cart and walk out (I just carry the receipt prominently in my hand). And then load them into the car. I finally figured I've been doing that at Costco for years, why can't I do it at the local grocery store. And I found out I can - I just tell them I don't need bags for any of it, I'd rather save the plastic. And they are fine with that.

use it for a glass until it breaks and then recycle it. Just a thought. peace, Kim

I have enough hummus containers and all for a lifetime of fake tupperware - It's ridiculous.

I do keep my beans and rice and stuff in recycled glass jars to keep moths out of it. I've hit my limit of what I can reuse, unless I start inventing uses for no reason, like maybe keeping my underwear in individual artichoke jars or something.

If I did that, though, I just know I'd die some weird death at home and that's what the papers would include in my obituary.

So I am probably better off sticking with the Refuse part of Refuse, Reuse, Recycle.

It does make a difference. We have a great recycling center near us so between the Salvation Army and that we don't waste much. Peace, Kim

At a time since I only get paid once a month, which usually works out to 15-20 bags, the reusable ones would be far too bulky to lug around in the morning (when I'm lugging many things into work). They are harder to carry when full, the handles are too long, I'm 5 feet tall and they drag on the ground, and I DID try the reusable ones, and sewed them shorter, but then they were, again, too difficult to use when carrying a large number of them. I carefully plan to do my shopping on a day when I know that I will not be bringing anything home from work so that I can maximise my carrying ability. The plastic bags fit more items, I reuse or recycle all of them (as I do with at least 50% of my trash), so I have no guilt over my use of them.

I've made my life pretty damn efficient, I put out 3-4 garbage bags a month (this is with a 7 month old dog and a 7 year old kid, both of whom live for destroying paper, foam, cardboard, etc) and only put out 1 bag of recycling a month. Everything else gets reused in some way.

You could figure out how to get 20 empty squished bags to work in the course of a month. Especially if you only need to get one there a day, and stockpile them at work if you have a desk or a locker, and I'm assuming if you are hauling that much stuff to work you have a place to keep a couple plastic bags there. If your grocery store suddenly stopped giving out bags, I have to believe you'd find a way to make it work. Anyone who manages to carry 20 full bags of groceries on a bus is a fairly determined and resourceful person, I think!

other companies are creating non-biodegradable waste products so why pick on plastic bags?

Why not? One at a time. Each one switching away from petroleum products is a plus.

And landfills do degrade. Many communities taking advantage of this degradation are capturing the methane gas produced by the decomposition and are using it to produce power.

That soil is productive.

They are environmentally unfriendly, and unproductive. (excepting a few actual "green/natural" natural courses.

That is pretty productive. and having a golf course is better than having a dump.

People "enjoy" driving hmmwv's. And they are better than driving a tank. Being better than the worst possible option, and having someone "enjoy" it, aren't determining factors for whether soil is productive.

Ecologically sound and productive choices for soil excludes the excessive use of chemicals and fertilizers that ruin the soil for actual productive use.

Roughly 1,000 pounds of pesticides are applied to a typical golf course annually. There are 23,000 golf courses in this country.

23,000,000 pounds of pesticides is not improving the soil in this country - or our ground water. Not even if you really really enjoy it.

They don't break and spill your groceries everywhere, they don't cut into your arms or hands, they don't clutter up your house when you empty them, and you don't have to remember to recycle them. I have four that I keep in this:



Sometimes I JUST use the Carrybag (Market basket) without the hemp and nylon bags when I make a small shopping trip. Then I don't have to use the store's baskets, which can be covered in God only knows what kind of germs. The basket also doesn't crush baked goods and produce like a plastic bag would. When I bring stuff home I put my purchases away, then stick the bags back in the basket and leave it by the front door. It ALWAYS goes back into the car when I make my next trip. Dead simple.

A good source for bags: www.reusablebags.com

Whole Foods is one of them. Apparently it's related to loss reduction.

We have canvas bags in the car for grocery shopping and a few string bags for use otherwise.

Sunday and the bag guy remarked on how cool it was. :shrug:

Trader Joe's does it too -- coincidently they are the only stores around here with a significant number of customers toting reusable bags.

I've used canvas bags forever because they're just more sturdy for groceries than the flimsy plastic kind. I still use store-provided bags when I'm walking or traveling by mass transit and can't fit everything into the bags that I did bring. Whole Foods has really good plastic bags that can be reused for months and months.

If you're the impulsive type.

then I put my purse inside it. I've got a nasty case of ADD, but I've managed to take it with me 90% of the time.

No need to try to remember to bring them with me.

So instead of blowing around for eternity, they breakdown into harmless components.

I love plastic bags. I re-use them all the time.

Guess I'll have to go back to my baby-skin bags.

pack some of those beloved plastic bags in your coat pocket if you must. Whole foods is a blue company and is doing a service for the good of all by no longer offering bags which USUALLY end up in landfills or drifting around in the environment.Here are some facts:

The Real Cost of "Free"
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Well over a billion single-use plastic bags are given out for free each day. But as the old adage says, nothing comes for free. Here are some facts to illustrate the actual costs paid by our environment and society for the fleeting convenience of unlimited, free, single-use plastic bags. To see the real costs, we must look at the "cradle to grave" multiple impacts and the effects of each phase of a bag's life.

Phase 1: Production Costs

* The production of plastic bags requires petroleum and often natural gas, both non-renewable resources that increase our dependency on foreign suppliers. Additionally, prospecting and drilling for these resources contributes to the destruction of fragile habitats and ecosystems around the world.

* The toxic chemical ingredients needed to make plastic produces pollution during the manufacturing process.

* The energy needed to manufacture and transport disposable bags eats up more resources and creates global warming emissions.


Phase 2: Consumption Costs

* Annual cost to US retailers alone is estimated at $4 billion.

* When retailers give away free bags, their costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.


Phase 3: Disposal and Litter Costs

* Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. Turtles think the bags are jellyfish, their primary food source. Once swallowed, plastic bags choke animals or block their intestines, leading to an agonizing death.

* On land, many cows, goats and other animals suffer a similar fate to marine life when they accidentally ingest plastic bags while foraging for food.

* In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade. As litter, they breakdown into tiny bits, contaminating our soil and water.

* When plastic bags breakdown, small plastic particles can pose threats to marine life and contaminate the food web. A 2001 paper by Japanese researchers reported that plastic debris acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals, soaking up a million fold greater concentration of such deadly compounds as PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of the notorious insecticide DDT), than the surrounding seawater. These turn into toxic gut bombs for marine animals which frequently mistake these bits for food.

* Collection, hauling and disposal of plastic bag waste create an additional environmental impact. An estimated 8 billion pounds of plastic bags, wraps and sacks enter the waste stream every year in the US alone, putting an unnecessary burden on our diminishing landfill space and causing air pollution if incinerated.

* Recycling requires energy for the collection, processing, etc. and doesn't address the above issues. To learn more visit Recycling Can Fix This, Right?

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=2

The plastic bag and container industry is, not surprisingly, a source of blatant disinformation.

what happens if you throw a paper bag or paper-based container into the ocean? it will break down into nothing within days or weeks. if you do the same with a plastic bag or plastic container, it will be floating around on the high seas for years, probably decades. while killing a lot of marine life in the process.

What would I use in my waste paper baskets? I sure would hate to buy liners for them. Now I also have to wonder about the plastic bags that I use in my Kitchen trash. I buy those, are they any better at breaking down?

Raebrek!!!

Plastic grocery bags can be easily substituted with something else, such as paper or re-useable bags. But as far as I know, there is no suitable substitute for plastic Hefty trash bags for disposing garbage, so I guess we have no choice but to keep using them for the time being.

they are waste paper baskets, right? Not kitchen garbage pails where you are throwing our food items. My waste paper baskets are unlined because I only throw dry items into them.

As for biodegradable plastic bags, here's some info:

What About Biodegradable Bags?


Biodegradable shopping bags are made of polymers that degrade, or decompose, when exposed to air, water or sunlight. There are two main types:

1) The original biodegradable bags, introduced about ten years ago, are made from resins containing polyethylene, starches and heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and beryllium. They are still on the market today.

2) About five years ago, a second type was invented using starches combined with biodegradable polymers or polylactic acid. Some of these claim to be fully compostable, meaning that they would break down to organic material suitable for plant growth.

At first glance, they may seem like a good idea, but a closer look reveals significant downsides such as:

* Does nothing to address the consumption part of this problem which lies at the heart of this issue. Both biodegradable and regular disposable plastic bags require a similar amount of energy, natural resources and costs to produce.

* Mixing of biodegradable bags in recycling systems for conventional plastic bags creates a sorting nightmare and can render entire batches of recyclable plastic useless.

* Bag littering could easily increase as people start to believe that biodegradable bags are less harmful to the environment and will disappear quickly it takes at least 18 months for most to breakdown.

* The breakdown of starch-based films in water consumes oxygen, resulting in oxygen depletion that contributes to algae blooms and the death of marine life.

* Water, soil, and crop contamination could result from the use of compost with chemical residues from biodegraded bags. For more click here.



We're hoping too that someone will develop a magical plastic shopping bag that doesn't consume vast quantities of natural resources to make, and disappears immediately without a trace. In the meantime, do the right thing and BYOB—bring your own bag.

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=8

or whatever large garbage bag you put out every week. You can probably make do without liners. I put any sticky or wet stuff in my kitchen garbage can anyway.

There are supposedly "biodegradable" garbage bags out there but who knows for sure? What matters more is the stuff that goes inside. Damn, Americans have too much garbage. I hate the excess packaging that comes with everything we buy.

And when we can't, we recycle the plastic bags, and/or reuse them. Publix Supermarkets have a recycling containers for them (as well as ones for styrofoam from meat pkgs, eggs, etc).

I am surprised whole foods had such a hard time making this choice. Trader Joe's uses Paper bags for those that don't use reusable bags.

We have to put our recycling into paper bags only, no plastic, so I hoard those things for the recycling.

Meijers started selling a wonderful reusable bag. It has a front pocket for the magazine or small item and two inside flap-thingies to hold bottles or something breakable nice and firm. I used mine in shopping today, and I got positive comments everywhere. They're that plastic-weave cloth, and I've found that it's not only strong but machine washable on gentle. Great bags.

Granted this decision is great for the environment but it's also a great way to get good PR while saving money.