Earth Day 2009: California-Based Grocers Conducting A Myriad Of Reusable Bag Promotions Today; Other 'Green' Activities For Earth Day

The attractive and compelling Earth Day 2009 graphic above was created by artist dana gray for the Environmental Council of Sacramento, California's Earth Day 2009 activities. Learn more about those activities here: Environmental Council of Sacramento. [Graphic courtesy of Environmental Council of Sacramento.]

Numerous grocers in California, which arguably leads the U.S. when it comes to "green" initiatives, are celebrating Earth Day today by offering reusable shopping bags to shoppers at greatly reduced costs -- and in the case of many retailers for free.

For example, all day today, El Segundo (Southern) California-based Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is giving customers one of its free reusable canvas shopping bags in return for making a purchase of $10 or more in its stores in California (Southern and Bakersfield), southern Nevada and Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.

The Fresh & Easy reusable canvas bags normally sell for 99 cents each.

In addition:

>Supervalu's Inc.'s Albertsons chain in Southern California is giving away free reusable shopping bags at its stores in Santa Barbara, Calabasas and Southgate. Employees of the chain are also volunteering their time to assist in cleaning four state parks in San Diego.

>KV Mart, a Southern California-based privately-held supermarket chain, is going Albertsons one better in the free bag giveaway department: It's giving out a set amount of free reusable shopping bags in all of its Southern California stores today.

>Reno, Nevada-based Scolari’s Food & Drug, a family-owned supermarket chain, is giving the first 100 customers at each of its stores a free reusable shopping bag today.

>the upscale, Southern California-based Bristol Farms chain, which also is owned by Supervalu, Inc., is giving shoppers in its Southern California (and its one store in San Francisco in Northern California) supermarkets a free, high-quality reusable shopping bag for purchases of $25 or more made in its stores today.

>Another upscale Southern California chain, Gelsons, has created a special Earth Day 2009 limited edition reusable shopping bag which it's giving free to customers who buy $25 or more worth of groceries in its stores all day today.

>Modesto, California-based Save Mart Supermarkets (about 230 stores), which operates Save Mart banner supermarkets and Food Maxx banner discount warehouse stores in Central and Northern California -- from Bakersfield south to San Joaquin County in the north -- and Lucky banner supermarkets in the San Fancisco Bay Area, Sacramento region and other parts of Northern Califronia -- has teamed up with the makers of Tropicana brand orange juice in an Earth Day reusable bag extravaganza in all of its stores.

For each 128oz bottle of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice customers purchase (the juice is advertised all week for $6.29 each in Save Mart-owned stores), they receive three free "Save Mart" reusable canvas shopping bags. The cross-promotion with Save Mart is part of Tropicana's "Save the Rainforests" campaign, in which the brand is donating money towards saving and preserving the rainforests.

>Safeway Stores, Inc. which operates supermarkets under the Safeway, Vons, Pak N Save and The Market banners in California, Nevada and Arizona, is giving shoppers a free, high-quality reusable shopping bag with purchases of $50 or more in its stores all day today. We're surprised Safeway is requiring such a high minimum purchase, since in the past the retailer has actually given reusable bags away for free. Maybe next Earth Day?

In addition to the reusable bag promotions and giveaways, numerous California-based supermarket chains are doing other good "green" deeds today for Earth Day.

For example:

>Sacramento, California-based Raley's Family of Fine Food Stores, which operates 133 supermarkets under the Raley's, Bel-Air, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source (warehouse stores) banners throughout Northern California and northern Nevada, is opening its "greenest" store today. The store is located in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Petaluma. The Petaluma Raley's banner supermarket has received a "gold" rating by LEED, the organization that certifies "green" commercial buildings in the U.S.. The only rating above "gold" is LEED's "platinum" rating.

The Petaluma store also employs state of the art refrigeration systems and a new induction lighting processes that dramatically decrease the amount of energy use in a building. Raley's says it is the first supermarket chain to use the new induction lightling system in the U.S.

Raley's is conducting all sorts of Earth Day activities at the Petaluma store grand opening, as it is at all of its 133 supermarkets.

>Natural and organic grocery chain Whole Foods Market, Inc. is holding a vitual Earth Day 2009 festival in its stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and elsewhere throughout the U.S. (and in Canada and the United Kingdom). Among those activities include giving away free trees to shoppers, selected free reusable bag giveaways, and partnership promotions with numorous local environmental and community organizations for Earth Day 2009, along with numerous other "green" activities.

Whole Foods also announced today that it plans to dramatically increase its use of alternative energy at its distribution facilities and stores, including putting solar panels on many of its natural and organic foods supermarkets.

>Wal-Mart also announced today it plans to significantly increase the number of its stores that have solar power systems on panels. The majority of the new stores Wal-Mart will be adding the solar panels to are in California and the Western U.S. Selected Wal-mat stores also are giving away free reusable shopping bags today.

>Southern California-based supermarket chain Stater Bros (based in the Inland Empire region). and Arizona-based natural foods chain Sprouts Farmers Market, which has a number of stores in Southern California, have both announced they are making a financial and corporate involvement committment tothe U.S. National Park system in the Western U.S. That committment is to help preserve and conserve the National Parks, which are a true American heritage and treasure.

>Los Angeles based Superior Grocers, a multi-store independent, is providing water and fresh fruit to volunteers participating in a tree planting event in the Sixth District of Los Angeles.

>Rainbow Natural Market, a high-volume natural foods cooperative supermarket in San Francisco, is holding an Earth Day 2009 festival in and outside its store today. The event consists of numerous informational and educational booth on topics like local foods, recycling and more. There's also local and organic food tastings, demonstrations of ways to "green" the home, and other pro-environment kinds of activities.

The examples we've listed above of what grocers based in California, the Western U.S., and elsewhere in the country are doing for Earth Day 2009 are merely the tip of the iceberg. Other chains and independents are doing similar and other activities, all designed around the Earth Day conservation and "green" theme.

In California, the California Grocers Association (CGA), the Sacramento, California-based food and grocery industry trade association for chains and independents, has played a major role in encouraging its grocer-members to sponsor reusable shopping bag promotions and giveaways today.

The trade group is committed to playing its part in getting more California shoppers to use reusable bags at its member's food and grocery stores. CGA members include most all of the leading chains and independents with stores in California.

"Using reusable bags is one of the easiest and most effective ways to have a positive impact on our environment," Ronald Fong, President and CEO of the California Grocers Association (CGA), said today. "On Earth Day 2009, we (the CGA) intend to increase reusable bag awareness and educate consumers to the benefits of their use."

"Grocers have sold reusable bags for years, Fong says, but it wasn't until the passage of Assembly Bill 2449 – California’s statewide plastic bag recycling bill – in 2007, and the increased worldwide focus on sustainability, that reusable shopping bags moved into the environmental spotlight."

The law requires supermarkets in California to sell reusable shopping bags, along with placing recycling bins in their stores for shoppers to return single-use plastic carrier bags to from home.

As Fresh & Easy Buzz reported in this April 16, 2009 story [Two New Bills in California State Assembly Would Put 25-Cent Per Bag Fee on Both Single-Use Plastic and Paper Carrier Bags], new proposed legislation is currently making its way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento that would levy a 25-cent per bag fee on all single-use plastic carrier bags and paper grocery sacks shoppers request in supermarkets, chain drug stores and convenience chain stores in the Golden State.

This proposed legislation, some version of which looks likely to pass this year, makes the effort by California's grocers to promote reusable bag use by customers in their stores all the more important on this Earth Day -- and beyond.

Of course, if a consumer behavior change would take hold, in which more shoppers bring their own bags to the store with them, such legislation wouldn't be needed. After all, in the larger scheme of things it really is up to each one of us as consumers and shoppers to use reusable bags and thus contribute to decreasing the use of non-renewable energy sources, isn't it?

Later today Fresh & Easy Buzz will publish a suggested, simple program, that if implemented by grocers in California and elsewhere we believe could lead to a dramatic increase in the use of reusable shopping bags by shoppers. Of course, that program, like any and all others, will require consumer cooperation and participation in order to work.

Stay tuned.

Happy Earth Day 2009.

[Editor's Note: Information about the reusable canvas shopping bag pictured above is available here.]

[You can follow Fresh & Easy Buzz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]

Related stories and posts:

>April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills

>April 8, 2009: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Gets Reprieve As Manhattan Beach, California Plastic Bag Ban Law Held Up By Plastic Bag Industry Group's Lawsuit

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

>March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th

>March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

>December 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

>August 13, 2008: Tesco to Offer Shoppers Free Plastic Bags in UK Stores Only if Requested; Still Offering Plastic Bags-Only in Fresh & Easy USA Stores; No Paper Option

>August 1, 2008: Bag Bans and Fees: Seattle, Washington Imposes 20-Cent Fee On Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags; Bans the Use of Foam Meat Trays in Supermarkets

>July 23, 2008: Plastic or Plastic: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Bans in California Cities Threatening Tesco Fresh & Easy's Free 'Plastic Bag-Only' Policy

>September 25, 2008: Competitor News: Wal-Mart Joins Tesco, Others in Announcing A Plastic Bag Reduction Program of its Own

>April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

>April 18, 2008: Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

>April 24, 2008: Legislation: Oakland, California's Plastic Grocery Bag Ban Law Not in the 'Bag' Yet

>April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday

>March 15, 2008: UK 'Banish The (Plastic) Bags' Campaign Update: Morrison's Latest to Make Announcement; Tesco Holds Firm

>March 5, 2008: Britain's 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign and Tesco: London Street Artist 'Celebrates' the Tesco Plastic Bag; More UK Retailers to Charge Bag Fee

>March 8, 2008: More UK Retailers Jump On The 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign.

>March 4, 2008: "Message From Across the Pond: Tesco is Right Square in the Middle of the 'Banish the (Plastic) Bags' Campaign in the United Kingdom

>May 1, 2008: Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

Two New Bills in California State Assembly Would Put 25-Cent Per Bag Fee on Both Single-Use Plastic and Paper Carrier Bags

The authors of the bag-fee bills working there way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento hope if passed the legislation will make the message on the reusable bag above a reality in the Golden State. [The bag pictured above is available here.]

Special Report: Carrier Bag Legislation -- California

Two nearly identical bills that if passed would require supermarkets, large drug stores and convenience store chains to charge shoppers 25-cents for each single-use plastic carrier bag and paper grocery bag they request are currently working their way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento.

The first piece of legislation, AB 2058, is authored by Assembly Member Julia Brownley (Democrat), who represents the 41rst Assembly District, which includes the Southern California cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Encino, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Oak Park, Oxnard, Pacific Palisades, Port Hueneme, Santa Monica, Tarzana, Topanga, Westlake Village and Woodland Hills.

The second, nearly identical bill, AB 87, is authored by Assemblyman Mike Davis (Democrat), who represents Assembly District 48, which includes numerous communities in Los Angeles County.

Both bills would if passed require the retailers to charge customers a fee of 25-cents for each single-use plastic carrier bag and paper grocery sack they request at checkout. That amount is subject to being modified as the bills work through the various Assembly committees.

The two bills are being discussed and debated this week in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. Assembly Member Brownley is a member of that committee.

It's expected that the two bills will eventually be merged into a single bill, most probably AB 2058, then co-authored and supported by both Brownley and Davis, along with picking up additional co-authors. Both AB 2058 and AB 87 currently have co-authors.

We believe that both bills, or a merged single bill, will be approved by the Natural Resources Committee. The committee would then send the bill to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for discussion and an eventual vote. If passed in Appropriations, the committe would then mark the bill up for an eventual vote by the whole Assembly.

A similar bill, AB 2050, which carried a 15-cent per bag charge as its central feature, was passed out of committee in 2008 and was set to be voted on by the full Assembly. [Read our reports here - April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee; and here - April 13, 2008: April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday.]

However the bill, along with numerous others, was never voted on in the 2008 session because of the budget stalemate the California Assembly and Senate were in at the time. Because the legislature was so late in reaching a budget agreement, any bills that hadn't been voted on by the whole Assembly were shelved.

Assembly Members Brownley and Davis introduced the two new bag fee bills into the 2009 session.

A key feature of the bills is that the fee applies to both plastic and paper bags. This is because a central feature of the legislation is to encourage shoppers to bring reusable shopping bags to the store with them.

Supermarkets and large drug chains in California are required by state law to sell reusable bags in the stores.

They also are required to have recycling bins in the stores so that customers can return single-use plastic carrier bags to the stores for recycling. Unlike the case with paper grocery bags, which are excepted in every California city that has a curbside recycling program, which are most, few if any of the curbside recycling programs accept the single-use plastic bags for recycling,

It's too early to tell for sure but our analysis is that the single-use plastic carrier bag fee legislation has a high probability of passing in the full Assembly. If that happens, the legislation would then go to the California State Senate for debate and eventual vote. In order to become law a bill must be passed by both bodies and signed by the Governor.

Many California retailers, particular chains that operate stores throughout many cities in the state, are supporting the legislation because they want a uniform law (as uniform as you can get since cities in California can still pass their own municipal bag fee laws or bans under what's called "home rule" in the Golden State) rather than having to deal with a patchwork quilt of different plastic bag fee laws and bans in cities throughout the state.

Many retailers also prefer the bag fee over outright bag ban laws which a have now passed in cities like San Francisco, Manhattan Beach and Palo Alto. Numerous other cities are discussing enacting either single-use plastic carrier ban laws or bag fee legislation.

There also appears from our research to be a majority consensus in both the Democrat majority Assembly and Democrat majority State Senate that a statewide bag fee law should be passed this year, despite the economic recession.

It is possible though that the 25-cent per bag fee could be reduced -- say to 15-cents -- as a way to gain consensus in the Assembly. Last year's bill, AB 2050, has a 15-cent per bag fee attached to it.

We expect either both AB 2058 and AB 87, or a combined bill, to be sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for debate and discussion as early as today or tomorrow. Appropriations decides when to discuss and debate bills sent to it from other committees.

Fresh & Easy Buzz will be follwing the bills as they work through the California Legislature, and will keep out readers informed of the status.

Paper, plastic or reusable bags?

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market offers only free single-use plastic carrier bags in its 118 grocery and fresh foods stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, unlike nearly all of its competitors, which offer a choice of free plastic or paper.

About half of Tesco's current 118 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores are in Southern California (and three in Bakersfield). The other about half are split between Metropolitan Pheonix, Arizona and southern Nevada.

Like all major food and grocery retailers in California, Fresh & Easy offers reusable carrier bags for sale in its stores.

The grocer offers an inexpensive reusable bag it calls "Bag for Life" for 20-cents each. The bags are made out of a clear, plastic-like material. Fresh & Easy offers to replace the bag for free whenever it wears out. The bags are popular in the United Kingdom, where Tesco is based.

[Strategic suggestion: If the 25-cent per single-use carrier bag fee legislation becomes law, Tesco's Fresh & Easy could eliminate single-use plastic carrier bags completely in its stores and sell only the reusable "Bags for Life" for 20-cents each, the current price. It's even 5-cents cheaper than the single-use plastic bags would be under the law. In fact, this is something all grocers in California could adopt. It's actually a good reason for the supermarket, drug and convenience store retailing industry in California to support the bag-free legislation. And the single-use plastic bag manufacturers could transition to making the "Bags for Life." Some already make them. We think its a good idea -- and a much "greener" one than at present. And it would make the retailers look less like the bad guys when it comes to the single-use plastic bag issue.]

Fresh & Easy also offers an inexpensive reusable canvas tote bag ,which it sells for 99-cents each, along with a couple other canvas bag offerings.

In Ireland, which passed a bag-fee law a few years ago, the government says that sense the legislation was passed, single-use plastic carrier bag use by retailers (and thus consumers) has decreased by a whopping 94%

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, which self-banned single-use plastic carrier bags in its stores a year ago on Earth Day 2008, says since doing so it's seen customer-use of reusable bags triple in its stores.

The natural grocery chain, which has 297 stores (over 50 in California) and $8 billion in annual revenue, also says in the year since eliminating the single-use plastic carrier bags it's diverted about 150 million of the bags from landfills but not offering the thin bags in its stores. Whole Foods Market still offers customers free paper grocery bags, which are made out of at least 50% post-consumer recycled paper and are 100% recyclable, in its stores. [Fresh & Easy Buzz - April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills.]

Whole Foods' gives shoppers who bring their own bags at least 5-cents per bag credit off their grocery orders for each bag used as a way to offer an incentive for reusable bag use. West Sacramento-based Raley's supermarkets also does this, as do a growing number of other grocers.

Related stories:

>April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills

April 8, 2009: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Gets Reprieve As Manhattan Beach, California Plastic Bag Ban Law Held Up By Plastic Bag Industry Group's Lawsuit

>April 28, 2008: April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

>March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th

>March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

>December 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

>August 13, 2008: Tesco to Offer Shoppers Free Plastic Bags in UK Stores Only if Requested; Still Offering Plastic Bags-Only in Fresh & Easy USA Stores; No Paper Option

>August 1, 2008: Bag Bans and Fees: Seattle, Washington Imposes 20-Cent Fee On Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags; Bans the Use of Foam Meat Trays in Supermarkets

>July 23, 2008: Plastic or Plastic: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Bans in California Cities Threatening Tesco Fresh & Easy's Free 'Plastic Bag-Only' Policy

>September 25, 2008: Competitor News: Wal-Mart Joins Tesco, Others in Announcing A Plastic Bag Reduction Program of its Own

>April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

>April 18, 2008: Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

>April 24, 2008: Legislation: Oakland, California's Plastic Grocery Bag Ban Law Not in the 'Bag' Yet

>April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday

>March 15, 2008: UK 'Banish The (Plastic) Bags' Campaign Update: Morrison's Latest to Make Announcement; Tesco Holds Firm

>March 5, 2008: Britain's 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign and Tesco: London Street Artist 'Celebrates' the Tesco Plastic Bag; More UK Retailers to Charge Bag Fee

>March 8, 2008: More UK Retailers Jump On The 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign.

>March 4, 2008: "Message From Across the Pond: Tesco is Right Square in the Middle of the 'Banish the (Plastic) Bags' Campaign in the United Kingdom

>May 1, 2008: Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

Earth Day 2009 is Tuesday, April 22.

[Follow Fresh & Easy Buz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]

Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills

Green Retailing Special Report: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags & Reusable Bags

Nearly one year ago, on Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Whole Foods Market, Inc. eliminated offering free single-use plastic carrier bags as an option in all of its stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Instead, Whole Foods' decided to offer shoppers only free 100% recyclable paper grocery bags (made from at least 50% post-consumer recycled paper), along with making a major push to encourage customers to bring there own reusable shopping bags with them to the stores, as well as offering a variety of reusable bag varieties for sale at a variety of price points in its natural and organic foods markets.

A.C. Gallo, Whole Foods Market, Inc.'s co-president and chief operating officer says the Austin, Texas-based natural grocery chain decided to eliminate the single-use plastic carrier bags on Earth Day last year "in an effort to help protect the environment and conserve resources, a move that aimed to protect nature and wildlife and reduce litter by encouraging customers to bring reusable bags when they shop for groceries." [Fresh & Easy Buzz, April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow.]

Last year hundreds of Whole Foods Market's store-level team members joined the non-profit Ocean Conservancy group's annual coastal cleanup day in which thousands of volunteers pick up litter and catalog what they found along beaches and coastal waterways throughout the world.

"During Ocean Conservancy's 2008 International Coastal Cleanup, 1.4 million plastic bags were found littering our oceans, lakes and rivers," says Dianne Sherman, Director of the International Coastal Cleanup. "Trash travels. Even if we live thousands of miles inland, our actions have a profound effect on the ocean. A bag can blow from a picnic table, wash down a storm drain into a river and wind up harming or killing a sea turtles, birds or other marine life. Trash is one of the most pervasive - but solvable -- pollution problems facing our oceans and waterways. Whole Foods Market and their customers are demonstrating how simple lifestyle changes can make a sea change."

When it eliminated the plastic grocery bags last year from the checkouts in all its stores Whole Foods Market became the first major U.S. grocery chain to do so.

Whole Foods Market operates 279 stores. All but 11 (six in Canada and five are in the United Kingdom. Whole Foods' currently has 53 natural and organic foods supermarkets in California, seven stores in Arizona and five stores in Nevada, which are the three states where Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market operates its current 116 grocery and fresh foods markets. Whole Foods Market, Inc. had 2008 sales of $8 billion, which ranks it as the 21rst highest grossing overall food and grocery chain in the U.S., according to a number of industry rankings.

Gallo says that in the one year since Whole Foods' eliminated the single-use plastic carrier bags from all of its natural foods supermarkets the chain has seen the amount of reusable bag use among its customers triple. Additionally, Gallo says that the natural and organic grocer has kept an estimated 150 million plastic bags out of landfills since last Earth Day.

That's a considerable amount of plastic bags for one food retailing chain with just under 300 stores to keep from going into municipal landfills, which is where most of the single-use bags go because there isn't a comprehensive recycling system for the plastic bags in the U.S. like there is for paper grocery bags.

"At first we wondered if shoppers would just switch to paper but to our great surprise, people have been truly excited about using reusable bags," Gallo says. "I think Whole Foods Market has also helped that along by offering various versions of stylish, affordable 99 cent bags that have become quite popular - our shoppers have been inspired to make a positive environmental change and have really incorporated the reusable bag mindset into their daily lives. Eliminating plastic bags was definitely the right move at the right time."

Whole Foods' sells a variety of reusable bags in its 279 stores in the U.S., Canada (six stores) and the United Kingdom (five stores). Its value-oriented "A Better Bag," which sell for 79 and 99-cents respectively, depending on size, is constructed primarily (80% of its content) from recycled plastic bottles. The bags currently feature a charcoal sketch of a tree drawn and signed by singer Sheryl Crow.

The natural grocery chain also sells a variety of lower -to- mid-ranged priced reusable tote bags on up to its premium $29.99 cotton and burlap FEED 100 bag. Each FEED bag purchased by shoppers helps provide 100 nutritious lunches to hungry Rwandan school children through the United Nations World Food Program's School Feeding Program, as part of charitable program Whole Foods Market contributes to.

Whole Foods Market also offers customers a refund of either five or 10 cents per-reusable bag used at the stores' checkouts. The amount varies depending on the store and where it is located.

Paper bag use has increased at Whole Foods' stores since the retailer self-banned the plastic bags nearly a year ago. We know this because we've talked to store-level employees in at least 40 Whole Foods Market stores over the last year who have told us this is the case. However, that's to be expected, and we have no problem with it for a couple reasons.

First, the paper grocery bags are 100% recyclable. Nearly every city and town in the U.S has convenient, curbside recycling programs. And many of the smaller town that don't have the curbside programs allow resident to toss their paper waste into their green waste garbage cans. Since paper, including paper grocery sacks, is compostable, the disposal companies turn it and the green waste into compost which the towns use in parks and also sell to companies and often give away for free to town residents to use in their gardens.

Additionally, the paper bags used at Whole Foods Market stores are at made from at least 50% post-consumer recycled materials, and the grocer is working on 100%. This means the bags a shopper gets today came from at least half of a bag that was recycled and turned into the new bag.

Unfortunately single-use plastic carrier bags are seldom recycled in the U.S., largely because there isn't a comprehensive recycling system established to do so . Few if any curbside recycling programs allow single-use plastic carrier bags, for example.

In states like California and New York, supermarkets are required by state laws to place bins in the stores so that shoppers can return the plastic bags. The retailers also are required to arrange to have the bags picked up by a company that will have them recycled.

But the simple fact is that American consumers generally will only recycle if its convenient to do so, which is why residential the curbside system works best. Before that cities used drop off centers. Recycling rates were minimal. Curbside increased the rates dramatically.

In addition, only about three or four states have such laws.

In 2007, Whole Foods Market introduced all-natural fiber packaging at its in-store salad and food bars that comes from plants that grow wild or are cultivated and harvested annually.

Whole Foods' says it's currently searching for alternatives to its use of plastic bags and plastic containers in its stores' produce, seafood, bakery and bulk foods departments, according to Gallo. Since customers generally use a single plastic bag for each individual item purchased in these departments, that adds up to using lots of these single-use small bags storewide for Whole Foods.

Any replacement bag for these uses though requires that the material used in the bag is food grade, since it will be coming into contact with fresh and ready-to-eat foods.

Before the invention of the plastic bag for use in produce and plastic bags and containers for in-store bakery, supermarkets used paper bags and paper boxes (remember those pretty pink bakery boxes?) in these departments.

Some supermarkets still use paper along with plastic in their in-store full service bakeries. However few do largely because the cost of plastic is cheaper.

Switching to paper is something we think Whole Foods should take a look at and consider for both bakery and bulk foods. It's a bit more difficult for produce, although their are supermarkets that still offer a choice of plastic and paper bags for shoppers in the produce departments. Paper can be used to wrap fresh fish but usually stores put it in a bag first in order to preserve its freshness. That could be more difficult to find a solution for.

One of the reasons retailers like using plastic in produce, bakery and bulk departments is because the store checkout clerks can see the item through the bag, which speeds up checkout. However, we think in the case of bakery and bulk, going to paper for Whole Foods wouldn't slowdown checkout all that much, particularly once the clerks got used to peeking inside the bag when the need to, mostly in the case of produce since the bulk bags are supposed to be identified by code numbers anyway.

It would be hard of course to go to paper completely in any in-store bakery we realize because in some cases clear packaging, prepacked cakes and the like, is needed to display the product in self-service. But items in the full-service cases could be packaged using paper bags without much difficulty. Safeway Stores, Inc. for example does this in its stores, using a mix of paper (for service bakery) and plastic.

Of course, a truly biodegradable-compostable plastic bag for seafood, fresh meat, produce, bakery and bulk that doesn't cost retailers an arm and a leg would be a great solution. But none are available at a decent cost yet on the market that we've been able to find.

There is a slow behavior change going on among consumers in terms of bringing their own bags to the grocery store. And since Whole Foods Market happens to cater to the "greenest" of "green" consumers it's likely the behavior change is and will always be more dramatic in its stores, compared to say conventional supermarkets.

But with steady education, along with economic incentives designed to decrease plastic and even paper bag use by shoppers, its our analysis that over the next few years we will see more and more shoppers, regardless of where they shop, bringing there own bags to the grocery store.

In fact, it is some of the no frills, deep-discount grocery chains like Germany-based Aldi (Europe and the U.S.) and Lidl (Europe), and Supervalu's Sav-A-Lot (U.S.) that are leading the way in encouraging shoppers to bring their own bags to the store because they charge customers a small fee (usually five to 15-cents per-bag) for each single-use plastic bag they request at checkout, providing a small but still real economic incentive to shoppers to bring their own bags to the store. Many shoppers bring single-use plastic bags or paper bags from previous trips or from other stores with them to these stores, not just specifically designed reusable tote bags. Doing this takes the "single-use" out of the paper and plastic bags.

And of course more and more cities, counties and even states and nations (Ireland, China) have and are passing plastic bag ban laws or laws requiring shoppers to pay for the single-use plastic bags in stores if they request them. As more of these laws are passed, which they will be, that obviously will decrease the amount of single-use plastic bags used overall, both in the U.S. and globally.

For example, China banned the bags nationwide last year. That resulted in a huge global decrease in usage in one legislative fiat. And since passing a law three years ago that charges shoppers for plastic bags in retail stores in Ireland, the government says it has reduced the volume of single-use plastic carrier bags distributed by stores on the Emerald Island by a whopping 94%

Of course it would be better if consumers adopted the use of reusable bags without all the added new legislation.

What's needed are additional and new creative ways to change shopper behavior more towards the bring-your-own-bag concept, along with some solid economic incentives designed to move the behavior change along more rapidly. We see both coming, particualrly among first-mover food and grocery retailers.

Fresh & Easy Buzz Linkage - Related stories:

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

>March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th

>March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

>December 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

>August 13, 2008: Tesco to Offer Shoppers Free Plastic Bags in UK Stores Only if Requested; Still Offering Plastic Bags-Only in Fresh & Easy USA Stores; No Paper Option

>August 1, 2008: Bag Bans and Fees: Seattle, Washington Imposes 20-Cent Fee On Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags; Bans the Use of Foam Meat Trays in Supermarkets

>July 23, 2008: Plastic or Plastic: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Bans in California Cities Threatening Tesco Fresh & Easy's Free 'Plastic Bag-Only' Policy

>September 25, 2008: Competitor News: Wal-Mart Joins Tesco, Others in Announcing A Plastic Bag Reduction Program of its Own

>April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

>April 18, 2008: Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

>April 24, 2008: Legislation: Oakland, California's Plastic Grocery Bag Ban Law Not in the 'Bag' Yet

>April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday

>March 15, 2008: UK 'Banish The (Plastic) Bags' Campaign Update: Morrison's Latest to Make Announcement; Tesco Holds Firm

>March 5, 2008: Britain's 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign and Tesco: London Street Artist 'Celebrates' the Tesco Plastic Bag; More UK Retailers to Charge Bag Fee

>March 8, 2008: More UK Retailers Jump On The 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign.]

>March 4, 2008: "Message From Across the Pond: Tesco is Right Square in the Middle of the 'Banish the (Plastic) Bags' Campaign in the United Kingdom

>May 1, 2008: Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

[Follow Fresh & Easy Buzz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]

Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

Analysis: 'Green' Retail Marketing

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market said last week its sales of reusable, canvas shopping bags has doubled since it introduced a budget canvas bag for 99-cents in October, proving economists throughout the world right when they say selling a given good or service for a perceived or real low price will often stimulate consumer demand for that given good or service, say beyond the level of such demand for a $2.99 canvas tote bag, which we believe was about the price of the single canvas bag available at Fresh & Easy before it introduced the additional 99-cent budget version.

Fresh & Easy says it introduced the 99-cent budget canvas bag (pictured above at left), which is made from 100% cotton and the grocer says can hold up to 100 pounds, in October, primarily to reduce the number of single-use plastic carrier bags it uses in its 100-plus small-format, convenience-oriented combination grocery and fresh foods markets in Southern California, Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and the Phoenix Metro region in Arizona. That number is high because unlike nearly all other supermarkets and grocery stores in the Western U.S. do, Tesco's Fresh & Easy does not offer paper grocery sacks along with single-use plastic in its stores. No paper or plastic option.

We think its bad business for Tesco not to offer the paper grocery sack option in its Fresh & Easy stores since all who have experience in the Western U.S. food and grocery retailing market know there is a huge segment of consumers who seriously dislike single-use plastic carrier bags, don't often or always bring reusable bags to the stores, like paper grocery sacks, and might just not shop in stores that don't offer the paper option.

Perhaps a chain that has more business than it needs could get by without offering the paper option. However, Tesco's Fresh & Easy isn't in that category, and by not offering the paper bag option, just as is the case by not accepting paper checks, manufacturers' coupons and WIC vouchers from poor mothers, along with not offering at least one or two full-service checkout lanes in the stores, the grocery chain continues to write its own prescription for doing less business than it could, in our analysis.

In the United Kingdom where Tesco is based, supermarkets don't offer paper grocery bags. The retailer brought this practice, as it did its entire British retailing model in our analysis and in the opinion of numerous Fresh & Easy employees, over with it across the pond when it created Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, opening the first stores in November of last year. The movement to banish the plastic bags in the UK is even stronger than it is in the U.S. though.

Paper grocery sacks also are easier to recycle in the U.S. Unfortunately few if any cities allow residents to recycle single-use plastic grocery bags in their curbside recycling programs. Therefore most of the bags end up in the regular home garbage can, thereby ending up in landfills rather than being recycled. Paper grocery bags on the other hand are excepted in all curbside recycling programs, as is paper of every type.

The good news from an environmental perspective is, at least in California, that supermarkets over a certain size (including the Fresh & Easy markets) now have recycling bins in-store where shoppers can bring their single-use plastic carrier bags to be recycled. This is by law in California. The law, which also requires these retailers to sell reusable grocery bags, was passed last June in the Golden State. Neither Nevada or Arizona have such a law at present.

Despite believing strongly it's bad business and bad "green" retailing behavior for Fresh & Easy not to offer the paper bag option and only the free single-use plastic bags, we congratulate the grocer for offering the budget reusable canvas bags for 99 cents. And they are a quality bag for that price. The cheaper reusable bags are, the more consumers' will purchase (and hopefully use) them. Of course that's the key; bringing the bags with them to the store. That's the consumer's responsibility and not the retailer's.

We think reusable bags are the ultimate goal because both plastic and paper grocery bags have environmental problems with them, although recycling of the paper bags is so much higher because the infrastructure is better in place for consumers to do so. And yes, we are aware it takes more natural resource inputs to make a paper bag than it does a thin, single-use plastic carrier bag. But the ease of recycling outweighs that in our analysis. Just look on the s and the beaches in America. You will see tons of single-use plastic carrier bags but hardly a paper grocery sack in site.

Numerous retailers -- Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, Kroger and many others -- are now selling reusable bags for 99 cents to a couple dollars. Target has even been promoting a canvas reusable bag at 50 cents each for the last few weeks in its stores and weekly advertising circular.

It's just a matter of time, especially in California, before laws are passed throughout the U.S. (many cities already have passed them) that either ban single-use plastic carrier bags completely or in what is becoming an increasingly popular law, places a fee of from 5 cents to a quarter per bag on the plastic bags at the store. If shoppers want a plastic bag they have to pay for it under these laws.

Some city governments also are including paper bags in these fee schemes. We think that's a good idea. And we are betting we are going to see a rash of bag-fee legislation by cities and states, not just for green reasons, but also as a way to generate new funds for the cities in these bad economic times.

For example, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week he plans to initiate a law that would put a fee on single-use plastic carrier bags at every retail store in New York -- and there are a lot of them. He mentioned the revenue would not just be used for environmental programs but also for the general fund.

Earlier this year the city of Seattle, Washington placed a 20-cent per plastic-bag fee on the single-use bags used at supermarkets in the city.

The California State Legislature had a bill before it this year to levy a 25 cent per plastic bag fee at the point-of-purchase. However, because the legislature was unable to agree on a budget until months after its deadline, that bill, along with many others, was never voted on. A version of it is expected to be brought up again next year.

And of course, San Francisco has banned single-use plastic carrier bags completely at larger supermarkets and drug stores. Palo Alto, where Tesco plans to open a Fresh & Easy Market also has placed a per-bag fee on single-use plastic carrier bags. Other San Francisco Bay Area cities are either in the process of enacting plastic bag fee laws or outright bans.

Cities like Manhattan Beach in Southern California have done the same. That city's ban is set to go in effect before the end of this month. Tesco has a Fresh & Easy store in Manhattan Beach. Therefore it will have to stop using the single-use plastic carrier bags. The grocer will either have to offer free paper bags at the store or force shoppers to either bring there own bag or buy one at the store, which won't likely go over very well with most customers.

Los Angeles County will soon revisit legislation it passed last year that would put a fee on each single-use plastic bag distributed at retail. The law was passed with a provision that state if a statewide fee law isn't passed then the county would go forward with its own law. Since that state legislation wasn't acted on this year, Los Angeles County is now considering going ahead with its own county plastic bag fee law.

Whole Foods Markets stopped using single-use plastic carrier bags in its 280 stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK in April of this year, offering just paper grocery bags for free, while pushing reusable bags.

Last week in Canada, that North American nation's retail grocers' trade association proposed a five cent per single-use plastic carrier bag fee scheme because it wants to get out in front of what is going to happen anyway that the Canadian government will soon pass a bill of its own design. Numerous cities in Canada have passed and are working on passing such laws; some to ban the plastic bags completely.

Loblaws, the largest supermarket chain in Canada, announced last week it will on its own start charging shoppers for single-use plastic carrier bags in its stores. [Canada's Loblaw to charge for plastic shopping bags Markets ...]

Fresh & Easy gives away the as bags to customers at every grand opening celebration and as part of each store's one-year anniversary celebration. Since opening its first store in November 2008, the company has given away over 175,000 canvas bags, according to chief marketing officer Simon Uwins.

Uwins says the grocery chain will introduce a reusable shopping bag made out of organic materials this month. It will sell for $2.99, he says.

Fresh & Easy stores also sell what they call "bags for life." These are reusable plastic grocery bags, popular in the UK. They sell for just 20-cents each at Fresh & Easy. The retailer also says it will replace the bags anytime they wear out for no charge, which is a very good deal for consumers.

Fresh & Easy wouldn't say what the sales of reusable canvas shopping bags doubled to from. Was it from 25 bags to 50? 5,000 -to- 10,000? That would be good information to have. But it appears to be proprietary.

However, doubling sales of the reusable bags in general is certainly a good thing from a "green" perspective. But we do believe Fresh & Easy will eventually be forced to offer paper grocery sacks in its stores because of all the single-use plastic carrier bag bans and fee schemes coming down in California, Nevada and Arizona. We expect numerous new laws to hit in 2009.

Therefore, why not get out in front of such laws. We suggest either offering free paper grocery sacks as an option along with the single-use plastic bags, like all of Fresh & Easy's competitors do, or being even bolder and packing all customer grocery purchases in the reusable "bags for life" the grocer currently sells for the reasonable price of 20 cents each. Perhaps say after a year of using those cheap reusable bags as the free default bag at the stores, combined with an aggressive public education program, Fresh & Easy wouldn't have to give too many out for free after that because shoppers would bring them back with them to the store.

Doing this would be innovative, provide a point of differentiation from the competition, as well as allowing Fresh & Easy to avoid using paper sacks but still be able to offer a free alternative to single-use plastic, which the grocer is going to have to start doing in Manhattan Beach, in San Francisco, and elsewhere very soon. It would be a very "green" bagging solution.

About introducing the 99-cent canvas bags in October, Simon Uwins says: "We want to make it easier for our customers to make green purchasing decisions," said Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy chief marketing officer. "By offering affordable canvas bag options we can encourage customers to reach for a reusable bag instead of one that might end up in a landfill."

We do sincerely congratulate Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for offering the affordable canvas bags. But the problem with that statement, and with using the 99-cent canvas bag as a green marketing vehicle by using it as a news hook in this press release, is that it is to landfills where most of the single-use plastic carrier bags Fresh & Easy offers as its only free bagging option in its stores go.

In other words, by only offering single-use plastic carrier bags as the free, default bag in its stores, Fresh & Easy is encouraging the filling of landfills as much as is it is trying to discourage that behavior by offering the cheap canvas bags. That poses some risks, particularly when trying to tout the program from a "green" marketing perspective, in our analysis. It's tough to sell, and tough for consumers to buy.

Offering a second alternative like the paper grocery sacks or the "bags of life" for free would make the "green" message much more consistent and much easier to buy, in our analysis and opinion. But make no mistake about it, we do like the 99-cent canvas bags.

Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

A Waitrose supermarket in the United Kingdom town of Chesham has introduced what the upscale food retailer is calling a "green till."

The Chesham branch of the Waitrose supermarket chain has created a "green" checkout lane which can only be used by customers who either bring their own reusable shopping bags or previously received single-use plastic or paper carrier bags to be reused in the store.

No single-use carrier bags will be given out at the "green" checkout.

The move by the Chesham Waitrose is in part a response to a campaign in the town to get the city's lawmakers to ban the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in that community.

A local group called CarryAbag is campaigning for a law that would ban retail stores in Chesham from giving out single-use plastic carrier bags to shoppers. It's the town's goal to be plastic bag-free, either with voluntary compliance by retailers and residents, or eventually through a law banning the single-use plastic carrier bags.

CarryAbag is even linked on the town's official webpage, where it sells an attractive "CarryAbag" canvas reusable shopping bag.

Julia Brammer, a spokesperson for the CarryAbag group, said the organization welcomes the Waitrose supermarket's "green" checkout lane idea.

"It's absolutely brilliant they're taking the issue of bag use seriously and are doing something to encourage shoppers to use their own bags," she says.

Chesham, a town of about 20,000 residents, is a very "green"-conscious community. In fact, in 2006 the town adopted its own comprehensive environmental policy, which you can read here.

Chesham also is a "Fairtrade" town, meaning it's the city's official policy to support Fairtrade goods and services. The town was the first in Buckinghamshire to achieve Fairtrade status when it did so in 2005. Fairtrade status is granted to towns, organizations and businesses in the UK by the UK Fairtrade Foundation.

We think the Waitrose supermarket in Chesham's idea to create a "green" reusable shopping bag lane in its store is a good one.

Like "express" lanes for shoppers who only have ten items or less, it offers a priority to shoppers--in this case for exhibiting positive environmental behavior. It's also a reward in the form of faster checkout service for doing so.

The "green" checkout lane concept, which we haven't seen any other supermarket adopt as of yet, reminds us of freeway carpool lanes in concept. Drivers are rewarded for carpooling (positive environmental behavior) and thus allowed a special lane on the freeway, which always has far less traffic in it than the other lanes. In some countries drivers of hybrid vehicles also can use the carpool lanes.

Both of these concepts--the carpool lane for drivers and the Waitrose Chesham reusable shopping bags-only lane for customers--create an incentive for consumers to behave in an environmentally positive manner.

Human beings like and respond well to positive reinforcement--and as such we expect the Waitrose store's "green" checkout lane to not only be popular, but to change shopper behavior over time. Once many of the supermarket's customers notice the "green till," and how much faster its users are getting waited on, they will start to bring their own reusable carrier bags to the store.

We think this is a winning idea Waitrose should expand to its other UK supermarkets. It's also a great idea for grocery retailers throughout the world--especially in the U.S.

It would be simple for a typical supermarket that has say 12 checkout lanes, to convert one or two of those 12 lanes into "green lanes," in which only shoppers with either reusable shopping totes or their own "reused" single-use plastic or paper carrier bags could use.

We believe the "green" lanes would be a big hit. Further, the U.S. supermarket chain that does it first, for example, is going to have a competitive advantage--at least until others follow suit--and generate lots of publicity over doing so.

The idea is equally good for other UK supermarket chains like Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's, which all have promised to reduce the amount of single-use plastic carrier bags they use in their stores by 25% by the end of this year.

In fact, Sainsbury's CEO Justin King recently announced the retailer is looking for ways to create incentives (carrots not sticks in his words) to get shoppers to request fewer single-use plastic carrier bags rather than to see the UK impose an outright ban or a per-bag charge on the carriers.

The Waitrose "green" checkout lane--which shoppers can only use if they bring their own bags--seems to us to be a very good and innovative carrot.

Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

In Australia, the shop assistants' union which represents supermarket clerks, is claiming the growing use of reusable shopping bags, especially those of the canvas and cotton variety, is causing injuries to store clerks because the reusable bags can hold up to 40% more weight in groceries than single-use plastic carrier bags or paper grocery sacks. As a result, all the lifting and toting of the heavier-when-filled reusable bags are causing injuries to the store workers, according to the union.

As a result, the shop assistants' union is proposing laws that would protect the store workers from injuries caused by the heavier-when-filled reusable shopping bags.

The Aussie store clerks' union says it has statistics which show about 11.3% of the nation's supermarket clerks have been injured lifting the reusable shopping bags after packing them with a customer's grocery purchases.

The issue is beginning to gain steam in Australia because the country's government is expected to pass a law banning the use of single-use plastic carrier bags next year.

The union is just beginning to formulate a series of laws it says are designed to protect the store clerks from back and other injuries they say are increasingly being sustained because the canvas and cotton reusable shopping bags can hold many more items than a single-use plastic carrier bag, thus becoming much heavier to lift off checkout stand counters, put into shopping carts and carry out to customers' cars at supermarkets which offer that service.

In a piece earlier this week in which we mentioned that one unintended consequence (although it should have been expected) of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban for supermarkets over 10,000 square feet the city of San Francisco, California enacted last year, is that the use of paper grocery sacks in the stores has increased dramatically. The allow still allows the store to offer paper grocery sacks for free to shoppers.

Our point isn't to suggest the plastic bags should not have been banned. That's the choice of people and governments in democratic societies.

Rather, we're just pointing up that there often are unintended consequences when laws like bag bans are enacted.

It appears the supermarket clerk health and safety issue being brought up by the Australia shop assistant's union is one of those unintended consequences; in this case of the growing popularity of consumers doing the right and "green" thing by bringing their own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store rather than having the store use single-use plastic carrier bags or paper grocery sacks to pack their purchases.

The issue isn't isolated to Australia

The heavier reusable shopping bag issue and store worker injury or potential injury issue isn't unique to Australia. We've noticed it personally in stores in the USA. The eyes of supermarket clerks sometimes glaze over when they see a shopper present three or four canvas or cotton reusable shopping bags for their grocery order to be packed in.

We've asked a store clerk or two about that "look," and they told us the only problem with the reusable bags is that when full they are so much heavier than plastic bags--and even paper grocery sacks when filled. They've added that after an eight hour day--especially one in which lots of shoppers brought their own reusable grocery totes--of packing and lifting the heavier bags, their backs and shoulders get rather sore.

Others have noticed this phenomenon in supermarkets as well.

For example, below is a post a consumer wrote on the Yahoo Answers website regarding a discussion of just this issue involving reusable shopping bags at supermarkets:

When the cashier started scanning my merchandise I told her I brought my own bags. She just looked at me confused as hell and then said she couldn't use them. I was a little baffled because why couldn't she? I come to realize it was mostly due to pure laziness in wanting to pack with my bags. She told me I had 2 options 1. let her bag them in which she'd use the plastic bags or 2. I bag them and use my own bags.

A bit later on Yahoo Answers, a number of posters mentioned the reusable shopping bag being heavier than plastic grocery bags when full issue regarding this poster's reusable bag experience at her supermarket, as the likely culprit to that store clerk's attitude and behavior.

We doubt if such flat out refusal's are the norm--or even a 5% of the time issue. However, other consumers say they've experienced similar (though not refusals like the shopper quoted above) situations regarding supermarket clerks and reusable bags.

Below is an experience one consumer posted on a website called Daily Green:

2008 @ 2:18PM
BigGUM said...
Only once did a grocery clerk not want to use my bags. I suppose I could have thrown a fuss, but I opted to bag my own stuff instead. Usually my grocery store doesn't blink an eye and recently they've even started selling their own bags.

Now just the other night at Target the cashier first attempted to scan my bags, then just went ahead and bagged my bags (!) in a plastic Target bag. When she finally understood what they were for she was flummoxed. Didn't I *like* the Target bag? Oh, I must be one of those save-the-environment people, right?No joke!

Other emerging issues regarding reusable shopping bags

This consumer's post points up another issue (other than the store clerk health and safety one) we've been recently told about regarding reuseable shopping bags in stores.

That issue is that in some cases store workers either tend to think shoppers are buying the bags at the store--and thus try to scan them like the consumer quoted above experienced--or even worse, we've been told by a number of consumers that store personal thought the shopper might be shoplifting with the reusable bags.

For example, below is a quote posted on Daily Green regarding the potential shoplifting issue:

-2008 @ 7:54PM
AshleyThe Amazon said...
I have literally been chased down by Wal Mart greeters when I enter a store with my own reusable bags, usually on a regular basis. One greeter claimed it was a theft issue and she needed to put a pink sticker on it to differentiate from their merchandise. These were bags emblazoned with "IKEA" and "Whole Foods" on them!! So obviously not theirs! I usually get dirty looks from the cashiers as well. They don't understand why I try to cram all of my items in the bags I brought. I have had these issues at 3, count them, 3 different stores. I wonder if its really a big company issue. Kinda makes me less likely to wanna go there.

Lastly, it seems many supermarket clerks are used to a certain routine which all shoppers are aware of. That routine has been company policy at supermarkets for years, primarily for perceptual rather than real reasons, but flies in the face of the reusable bag culture.

Here is an example: Clerks will put fresh meat, poultry or seafood for example into a separate plastic carrier bag so as to not let the package come into contact with other grocery products. They often do the same with fresh produce and other perishable or frozen items. In the latter case to keep the items frozen or cold. The concept is that in the separate bag there will be no "contamination."

Many shoppers who religiously bring their own bags to the store say this practice still happens to them when the supermarket clerk is bagging their grocery order.

The clerk, following store and company policy will "bag" fresh meat, poultry and seafood items for example in separate single-use plastic carrier bags, then put those bags along with all the other groceries into the customer's reusable shopping bags.

Of course, such practices defeat the source-reduction purpose the consumer intended by bringing his or her own bag to the supermarket. The shoppers then say they have to ask the clerk to please remove the items from the single-use plastic bags; which the clerks always do in the cases we've been told about or read about.

For example, here is what a poster on Daily Green had to say about the situation:

1-10-2008 @ 11:37AM
Brigid Keely said...
When I shop at grocery stores other than Whole Foods, I get confused looks when I say I brought my own bags. Sometimes the bagger bags everything in plastic bags (double bagged, t'boot) and then drops them in the bags I brought.One cashier teased me for having bags emblazoned with logos from stores other than his, but it was very friendly, and he made sure the bagger bagged our stuff correctly (ie, not in plastic).

Conclusion

Like all behavior and policy change, the growing use of reusable shopping bags isn't without its problems, as our examples point out. And since the goal is to grow this behavior and practice further, the unintended consequences are likely to grow and multiply.

However, we believe the in-store related behaviors can be fixed with effort by management, consumer patience, cooperation by the store clerks, and time.

The supermarket clerk injury situation currently being brought to attention by the Australian retail clerks union though could just be a bigger and less easily solved issue.

With the consumer use of reusable bags growing, more governments banning single-use plastic carrier bags completely, with others passing bag-fee laws and even retailers like Whole Foods Market self-banning the plastic bags in its stores beginning on April 22, we think the health and safety issue regarding the reusable shopping bags and potential and real store worker injuries is in its infancy. In other words, as the use of reusable shopping bags increases, so will the intensity of the issue, and not just in Australia.

We expect the issue to begin to emerge in the United States and Europe soon, as it is presently in Australia. As such, it promises to add another layer to the already multi-layer issue of paper, plastic or reusable bag use.