The plastic shopping bag may go the way of the dinosaur, as the popularity of reusable tote bags rises. And it seems retailers are embracing the shift.
“Retailers are getting ahead of this curve,” said Dan Sabbah of Global Way, a company which makes tote bags from recycled water bottles. His organization shipped hundreds of thousands of bags to retailers like CVS and Walgreens to promote Earth Day. “I don’t believe anyone thinks this is going to go away. This is going to be the wave of the future.“
The key to the shift is a willingness to support these green bags all year, not just on Earth Day. Thankfully, it seems many major companies are on board. Wal-Mart wants to cut plastic shopping bag waste by a third by 2013. IKEA and Whole Foods Markets got ahead of the trend by banishing plastic bags in 2008. And Target offers shoppers a 5c rebate every time they use one of their own bags in favor of plastic.
Plastic bag makers insist rumors of their death are greatly exaggerated though. Shari Jackson, director of Progressive Bag Affiliates, says the key to their survival relies on the use of recycled goods. It aims to achieve 40% recycled content in all bags by 2015.
Personally, I’d love to see plastic bags become a thing of the past. But if that can’t happen, knowing that these bags are a little bit greener seems like the next best thing.
[Image Source: Mike Licht/Flickr]
