Whole Foods to end use of plastic bags by Earth Day

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Whole Foods to end use of plastic bags by Earth Day

by Patricia Mayville-Cox (Subscribe to Patricia Mayville-Cox's posts)
Jan 22nd 2008 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Food

Whole Foods will be ending its use of disposable plastic grocery bags, in all of its 270 stores, by Earth Day, April 22.

The stores hopes that shoppers will bring their own reusable bags, but if not, never fear. Whole Foods will still offer paper grocery bags made from 100 percent recycled paper.

Certainly sounds like a bold step at first glance, but offering paper bags instead, without charge, sounds like kind of an out to me. Although to give Whole Foods credit where credit is due, they are doing more than most mainstream retailers and at least the bags are made from recycled content.

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Comments [32]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

1-23-2008 @ 10:49AM

lauren ann said...

Fantastic news! Yay!

1-23-2008 @ 12:41PM

Ariel said...

This is a terrible idea - what happened to being environmentally friendly?

This is terrible for the environment. Paper takes much more energy to both create and transport, plus it consumes fresh water, a resource that is much more scarce then oil.

1-23-2008 @ 12:41PM

JP Monkey said...

Great news! Once you get in the habit, bringing your own shopping bags is really easy and makes so much sense. There are a lot of reusable grocery bag design options available these days to appeal to any budget and style. Go Whole Foods!

1-24-2008 @ 12:04AM

Jaybird2005 said...

It may sound eco-friendly, but the final motivation is PROFIT. You see, they used to *give* you the bag (this cost them money) now they will *sell* you one (this makes a profit for them) if you bring a bag from home and you buy more than it will hold, you buy a new bag (more profit). Now you have to drive all the way home (waste fuel) to get your re-usable bag or you go in and buy yet another one! You get to boost their profit and feel good about it. BTW, processing cloth is not exactly 'good' for the environment. Where are these bags made, anyway?

1-23-2008 @ 3:48PM

Sara said...

There are actually plenty of places out there to get eco-friendly reusable grocery bags made in the USA that are made with organic cotton,hemp or made from recycled materials such as soda bottles. Just take the time to do the research. And you don't buy them from the grocery store, so they're not making more of a profit by their customers bringing their own bags. Plus I doubt the profit made by charging people a few cents a bag is nothing compared to the markup of the actual groceries in the store.

1-23-2008 @ 4:29PM

Lilo said...

Then clean your own cart. Most stores offer antibacterial wipes for that purpose. Or better yet, order on line and have your food delivered. Then you won't have a clue who has touched it.

1-23-2008 @ 4:36PM

Stefi said...

You know i don't understand how you people think it's some sort of profit making scheme. Get your own bag(s) & bring them to the store! 30YEARS ago we brought our own bags to the store in Toronto when i was small. The stores offered plastic, but it was customary to bring your own. This was no profit making scheme thought up my the stores.
c'mon, get with it .. this is common practice in europe & canada.

1-24-2008 @ 7:36AM

Mat said...

it's about time but nice to see that a fairly large and influential company is going the extra mile. can you imagine just how much plastic bag reduction there would be if walmart followed suit? i guess it'll be a while before that happens but it's a nice thought.

1-24-2008 @ 5:38PM

Bag Monster said...

So I take it you don't like single-use bags? What a bunch of Bag Monster Busters! There's a blog for people who want to be entertained and informed about the bag crisis: http://www.BagMonsterBusters.com

Nobody seems to want us around anymore... It's hard being a Bag Monster in the Age of Bag Bans! I can't even get a job because of convenient reusable ChicoBags (http://www.ChicoBag.com)

For a good laugh (at my expense), and the latest info on Bag Bans with an entertaining twist, go to my blog: http://www.BagMonster.com

3-06-2008 @ 8:49PM

extrachaichai said...

See my post here on cafetimes.blogspot.com
http://cafetimes.blogspot.com/2008/03/this-message-was-sent-using-pix-flix_3431.html

4-03-2008 @ 8:08PM

Lynn said...

Has anyone noticed all those thick plastic tubs/containers filled with cookies, muffins, brownies, etc. in the bakery dept.? I think what wholefoods is doing is great with the bags & all - but why are they moving INTO plastic tubs instead of AWAY from them? (Almost everything in the bakery is now in those heavy tubs.) I worked for a company last year & demoed a beverage in wholefoods. They freaked when I showed up with little plastic cups & told me I had to sample the product in paper cups. Give me a break! There seems to be a double standard here. Do they really care - or are they jumping on a PR bandwagon?

1-23-2008 @ 7:12AM

carla said...

right on- great first step. they ought to also do what Costco does, which is to put all their empties (cardboard boxes) up front where people can use those instead of bags. they're easier to deal with than bags, and are going to get way more than one use before being tossed.

i think folks won't *really* start remembering to bring even those cloth bags until they are either punished for not doing so, or rewarded for remembering. i used to get a 5 cent bag credit for every plastic bag i brought bag and reused. not applicable where i live now.

1-23-2008 @ 8:19AM

lentil said...

Actually, it would be even better if the incentive model is reversed: Rather than offering a bag credit if you bring your bag, make customers without their own bags pay a small amount, say 10 c, for a paper bag. Then you'll really see people remembering to bring bags.

1-23-2008 @ 7:12AM

kulshan said...

This a pretty big change...I worked for them less than a year ago and our regional managers had us push plastic over paper. Arguing the fuel used in production and transportation of paper which is 8 times in size and weight out weighed the harm of plastic. Not to mention plastic is a few cents less per bag than paper.

Though our own "green" bags were pushed heaviest

1-23-2008 @ 7:12AM

Stefi said...

WOW! This is the most beautiful news i've heard all year thus far!! Thank you Whole Foods!! You are paving the way for greatness!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

xoxo

1-23-2008 @ 7:12AM

Stefi said...

one other thing i meant to add.. i do wish they offered no bags, BYOB or no groceries!

but it is a start!

1-23-2008 @ 10:33AM

jojo said...

no bags? jesus christ.

1-23-2008 @ 11:27AM

chuck said...

You can't go from offering bags to nothing. You think that would hurt their business just a tad bit at first? Baby steps...baby steps.

1-29-2008 @ 12:55PM

M.E. Williams said...

This is what the deep-discount own-brand grocer Aldi does. They will let you use a box, if they have an extra from goods they've received, but they don't have bags for you. At all.

I protested this move at my own local Whole Foods: a recycled paper bag has avoided some waste, but took even more energy to produce than the same bag in non-recycled form, and way, way more energy than the plastic bag. The argument against plastic bags has mostly to do with their effect on wildlife.

So definitely... reusable bags are the way to go. But there's even a problem with that: gas prices are so high that inflation is becoming a problem in other areas, and overall, even with cost-of-living raises, everyone I know has less spare money than they did a year or two ago. If someone has a tight budget, they can probably afford reusable bags, but maybe only one every week or two.

(& if the argument is "People with that kind of budget aren't shopping at Whole Foods," it's not correct. In some communities, Whole Foods is one of the cheaper organic/health food outlets. They seemed like a budget paradise compared to our local Wild Oats, though they are more expensive than Trader Joe's on a lot of things.)

1-23-2008 @ 7:07AM

shellnet said...

Reusable bags are available at most supermarkets and even smaller local groceries. Use them!

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