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Oct 30, 2009 4:44 pm US/Central
Plastic Bag Incentives Bring Eco-Friendly Benefits
By ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Reusable bags, like these ones Whole Foods distributed this year, are now bringing benefits to customers who use them. (File)
CBS
Plastic bags can be an environmental nightmare. An estimated 90 billion are made every year, clogging landfills. So how do stores convince consumers to go green and bring their own shopping bags?
Katherine Burns bought enough at Target to fill 10 plastic bags. Instead, though, she brought her four of her own re-usable bags.
"Some of the checkout people look at me like, 'Oh, she's crazy,'" she told CBS station WCBS-TV.
But now Target is rewarding customers like Katherine for being green.
"Well it is 5 cents per bag so I brought four. That's 20 cents. It's something," she said.
The nation's fifth largest retailer officially launches its reusable bag discount program November 1, offering shoppers a nickel for every reusable bag they fill.
Smaller chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have been offering reusable bag incentives for a while. With bags for sale near checkout, Jessica Acesta bought into the idea.
"I said, 'Well why not spend 99 cents and buy a bag I could reuse for other things too," she said.
This month drug store giant CVS began its own environmentally friendly program to save bags. Customers pay 99 cents for a "green bag tag." The cashier scans the tag along with their CVS card every time they reuse a plastic bag. On every fourth scan, cardholders get a dollar off their next purchase.
Some 90 billion plastic bags are produced each year in the U.S. alone. Retailers like CVS and Target are putting their weight behind a growing movement to keep those bags from clogging landfills.
Target customer Michael Shano said as long as plastic bags are an option, he'll keep taking them.
"It's funny because I do consider myself relatively environmentally-conscious. As far as bags, that is not high on my priority list to do," he said.
But, when Target tested the program, it saw a 50 percent surge in customers who brought their own bags. In September 2008, Westport became the first town in Connecticut to ban plastic shopping bags.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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