Sustainability in a Bag

The now-ubiquitous plastic shopping bag was an instant hit with retailers and consumers when introduced in 1977. The use of paper shopping bags declined as a result: By 1996, four out of five grocery bags were plastic. But when environmental evidence showed those plastic bags would languish in landfills for generations, retailers — particularly supermarkets — began to offer bag recycling centers.

Not wanting to be left holding the bag, some cities across the country have attempted to impose bag recycling programs, a tax on their use or ban them completely. While mandatory recycling programs have passed in several states, San Francisco is one of the few to ban use altogether.

Negative consumer sentiment regarding plastic bags has mushroomed in some parts of the country, and consumer-level peer pressure seems to be mounting nationwide, according to Jeanne von Zastrow, senior director of industry relations for the Food Marketing Institute. She notes that the majority of supermarkets have been offering bag recycling and reusable bags for “quite some time,” but consumers haven’t really begun to embrace the change until recently.

“There is a cultural change emerging in many pockets across the country,” says Ted Brown, founder of Brown Sustainability Solutions in Maine. “A gradual shift, in which consumers take pride that there is one little thing they can do to help the environment, and that is using reusable bags.”

“Some supermarkets are customizing their bags to be unique and attractive to shoppers,” von Zastrow says. “Giant Eagle worked with a design class at a local university. The top five designs were selected and used. It is a wonderful way to support the college community and also gives the bag program attention.” Other retailers use signs in the parking lot to remind shoppers to take in their reusable bags when they shop.

“A lot of innovation in bags was timed to coincide with Earth Day,” Brown says. “This helped advertise ways that consumers can be more responsible.”

Reusable bags have grown in popularity over the last two to three years, to the point where they “have become almost a fashion statement or status symbol,” von Zastrow says.

Creativity in displays, promotions or design helps communicate the importance of reusable bags to consumers, according to Brown. “There is a higher level of consciousness on the part of retailers to help consumers reduce their carbon footprint,” he says. “Promotion of reusable bags is one way to do this.” A number of incentives are being tested to encourage consumers to embrace reusable bags, including coupons and coloring contests for children.

Taking charge
As they have in other issues, retailers are taking the lead in helping influence consumer behavior regarding bags. Promotions developed by retailers and bag manufacturers are drawing consumer attention to bag reuse and recycling, notes “Building Long Term Solutions: Retail Shopping Bag Impacts and Options,” a report issued in June by BSR, a San Francisco-based global business network and consultancy focused on sustainability.

Minnesota-based Innovative Packaging created SmarTote, a reusable bag with a barcode so stores can track whether the bag is reused. Companies then earn points to use for prizes and other incentives for customers. Target stores in the U.S. initiated a rebate policy in 2009, giving customers five cents for every reusable bag used.

Another alternative offers retailers the opportunity to generate profit while going “greener.” With 50 years’ experience in the European market, Mettler Packaging is introducing its Everlasting Bag concept to the U.S. “Our recycled bag material, ecoLoop, contains at least 80 percent post-consumer recycled materials,” says Wolfgang Trosser, director of U.S. operations for the Connecticut-based subsidiary of Germany’s Papier Mettler. By comparison, he says, “Most U.S. plastic bags contain 20-25 percent post-consumer recycled materials.”

Customers pay between 10 and 25 cents to purchase an Everlasting bag. “The stores can earn some money and also save because they do not have to purchase as many [regular plastic] bags,” Trosser says. The fee is paid at checkout, and the bag is used “at least 10 times” before being recycled through the retailer. The customer then receives a replacement bag, hence the “Everlasting” moniker.

Differing interests of retailers can present challenges to bag promotions, the BSR report found. Supermarkets and clothing stores, for instance, use different types of bags. What’s more, since supermarket trips are usually planned, consumers are more likely to bring reusable bags than they might on what is usually a spontaneous apparel-shopping trip.

Store clerks and cashiers can influence customer behavior passively through signs or badges encouraging sustainability, or through active behavior such as asking “Do you need a bag?” Other challenges include reluctance of some competing retailers to cooperate on sustainability efforts, training of clerks and cashiers, redesigning checkout areas to better accommodate reusable bags, phasing out disposable bags, increasing consumer incentives for participation and setting up effective recycling areas in stores.

While there appears to be some confusion among consumers about whether one type of bag is better than another, that is not the most important issue, says Marshall Chase, co-author of the BSR report. “The key point is that getting consumers to reduce overall bag use, reuse bags and recycle is more important for the environment than the specific type of bag used.”