Kroger's CEO has announced that they will phase out single-use 'disposable' plastic bags and switch over to reusable plastic bags only, by 2025.

 

There are currently 100,000,000,000 plastic bags used in the United States, annually. The average American family household uses an estimated 1,500 plastic bags a year.

There goes my lunch bags.

That is nearly 30 bags per week per household, man we need to step our game up. No way we use 30 per week.

My wife takes plastic bags and crochets them into sleeping mats for the homeless. Helps those who might normally sleep on the ground and it keeps the bags out of the landfill.

That is nearly 30 bags per week per household, man we need to step our game up. No way we use 30 per week.

 

Ditto. Maybe half that amount?

My wife takes plastic bags and crochets them into sleeping mats for the homeless. Helps those who might normally sleep on the ground and it keeps the bags out of the landfill.

That's really cool.

That is nearly 30 bags per week per household, man we need to step our game up. No way we use 30 per week.

 

I was gonna say, that number seems extremely high.

Good for Kroger, btw. Have there been any other major players in the grocery or retail game to make this decision? I am not sure if it is a State law or if communities have discretion, but I was thinking Hawaii banned plastic bags a few years back.

My wife takes plastic bags and crochets them into sleeping mats for the homeless. Helps those who might normally sleep on the ground and it keeps the bags out of the landfill.

 

Here's a sample of my wife's work. Each sleeping mat has 500 plastic bags in it. This one has plastic bags from a variety of stores (which is the reason for all the color in the mat).

 

Good for Kroger, btw. Have there been any other major players in the grocery or retail game to make this decision? I am not sure if it is a State law or if communities have discretion, but I was thinking Hawaii banned plastic bags a few years back.

 

Several stores have reusable bags that may be purchased already. Kroger is basically forcing you to buy reusable bags while others, at least for now give you an option.

The only time we get reusable bags is when we do the Walmart pickup. Very seldom.

 

The wife and I each have a collapsible crate we keep in our vehicles and a couple of reusable bags that we use everywhere we go.

Several stores have reusable bags that may be purchased already. Kroger is basically forcing you to buy reusable bags while others, at least for now give you an option.

 

They didn't say that they're doing away with single-use paper grocery bags. That's all my family ever got growing up, and that's what my wife and I use when we forget to take our canvas grocery bags.

They didn't say that they're doing away with single-use paper grocery bags. That's all my family ever got growing up, and that's what my wife and I use when we forget to take our canvas grocery bags.

 

My bad I guess, I look at paper bags as single use also.

 

If I'm not mistaken, it takes more energy and resources to make paper bags than plastic ones. Paper bags weigh many times more than plastic bags and take up more space to store and dispose of than plastic bags. Plastic bags are now made almost entirely from recycled material.

We shop a lot at BJ's and Aldi, places that don't provide bags, so I keep reusable bags in my car and truck. USF Athletics and Alumni Association gives out canvas shopping bags as giveaways at almost every event. Also, if you purchase over $50 worth of items in the bookstore or any of the team stores on campus, you can get your purchase in those same canvas bags for free. I have dozens of them.

 

If I am somewhere and don't have a bag with me, I ask for paper.

My bad I guess, I look at paper bags as single use also.

 

If I'm not mistaken, it takes more energy and resources to make paper bags than plastic ones. Paper bags weigh many times more than plastic bags and take up more space to store and dispose of than plastic bags. Plastic bags are now made almost entirely from recycled material.

The problem is not with what it takes to produce each. It comes with the disposal. Eventually, both become trash. Paper decomposes readily. Plastic stays virtually unchanged for hundreds of years.