Bag Recycling is for Everyone

Bob Vosburgh March 23rd, 2009

Supermarkets have been quick to embrace the idea of bag recycling. Many stores even award shoppers who pull out reusable cloth or recycled plastic bags a few cents off their bill for making the effort.

Of course, the more bags that get used again, the fewer the retailer has to order, so they save some bucks. Untold thousands get removed from the solid waste stream and stay out of landfills. It’s a group effort everyone — retailer and consumer alike — can feel good about. “Hands across the aisle” and all that.

So, it’s difficult to tell what Pick ‘n Save was thinking when they tried a new policy that limited the bag rebates to customers using Roundy’s bags only. One store was unfortunate enough to try and pull this on a green living contributor to www.examiner.com. Check out her story, and what happened, here.

As you can see, this little story has a happy ending. Pick ‘n Save does care about the environment and the common good; and it wasn’t trying to enforce shopper loyalty or limiting its generosity to those who use only Roundy’s bags. The whole thing was just a little misunderstanding, right?

Roundy’s just needed a little reminder. Lesson learned.

(Photo courtesy of Redcherryhill, Flickr)

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Related Topics: Recycling, Sustainability, Rules & Regulations

2 Comments to “Bag Recycling is for Everyone”

Sharon Oliveri Says:

March 24th, 2009 at 9:16 am

It’s amazing to see the store like Pick ‘n Save will adopt the policy like this. Hopefully it’s only a mistakes from the local cashier. Reusable shopping bags are becoming more and more popular this days. We should have encouraged more people to use it. Personally, I think supermarket/grocery store should give more incentives to the people who bring in their own reusable bags. Current policy is not attractive enough! Just my two cents.
Bob Vosburgh Says:

March 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am

Unfortunately, Sharon, I don’t think it was a mistake on the cashier’s part… but it was certainly a mis-step by corporate. While I understand why Roundy’s might have done this (to save some cash by restricting bag refunds to theirs only), the reasoning was horrible. It goes against the spirit of sustainability and recycling and everything green. This is not about making money - it’s about reducing solid waste and encouraging consumer participation. Anyone who makes cost reduction, rather than community relations, the TOP priority of their sustainability program is going to get an earful. As they should.