Whole Foods Market, which includes a Westport branch on Post Road West (formerly Wild Oats), has banned plastic bags. The Austin, Texas, natural-foods chain said Tuesday that it will eliminate all single-use plastic bags from stores nationwide by Earth Day, April 22. Stores nationwide gave away 55,000 reusable plastic bags on Tuesday, officials said. The reusable bags are now on sale for 99 cents, and, as the sign outside the Westport store indicates, customers will get 10 cents back for every reusable bag used. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
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23 thoughts on “Westport’s Whole Foods Banning Plastic Bags”
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I love meaningless gestures like this to make us feel good. Save a few gallons of ethane on producing plastic bags, waste it on producing heavier reusable bags, then buy items that the supermarket flies in from South America so we can eat foods off season.
I love that they are doing this! I’m sure more stores will follow. The sign is a great idea for those of us that sometimes forget our bags in the car.
Actually, I don’t think it’s meaningless. Estimates of between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. The EPA estimates that only 5.2% are recycled.The rest go into landfills and onto trees and telephone poles. Unless they’re properly recycled, they’ll exist on earth for 1,000 years before decomposing.
I think it is important for large companies to take the initiative to help spur people on to more environmentally conscious choices. The average family brings home about 1500 bags a year. If you multiply that by every US family, that is a lot of plastic! We really need to start thinking about how we can all cut down our plastic consumption, because that stuff is not going anywhere!
I was so stunned by these figures that I started a company making stylish and functional reusable bags called minusbags. (www.minusbags.com) I have found once you get into the habit of BYOB, it becomes second nature.
First off, there is plenty of landfill space out there so this is not really much of an issue.
Secondly, I don’t have a problem with companies saving energy. I do have a problem with grandstanding feel good measures that don’t really amount to anything. If whole foods really wanted to save energy then why is the store so spread out? why are the ceilings so high?, and why do they have so much stuff that comes from far away? What about the corporate jet?
If whole foods is was so environmentally conscience, then they should be promoting lower overall food consumption and more genetic engineered foods. But they do not, they are there to make a profit (nothing wrong with that). This is simply marketing to enhance sales.
….and that firewood they are selling outside to be burned inefficiently in someone’s fireplace; very nice for the carbon footprint….
I miss the the Wild Oats store!!! Since the Whole Foods buyout of this store, I’ve noticed that the selection of products has shrunk and prices have increased significantly!!!! There are less locally grown/produced items on the shelves, which appear to have been removed in favor of…you guessed it…Whole Foods brand products. I’m all for eliminating plastic bags, but I agree with Mr. Green…its just hype. The elimination of the purchase of plastic bags is a huge cost savings to Whole Foods and provides free “green” advertising for them at the same time. Local producers and businesses don’t factor into their bottom-line equation much, nor does providing a good product at a reasonable price. My sister resides in Sarasota, FL, which has had their Whole Foods store for quite some time. This store is referred to by the locals as “Whole Paycheck”. Now I really understand how and why this nickname was coined.
Paul, I’ve never been hit in the face by a reusable canvas shopping bag while jogging on a windy day. Can’t say the same of plastic.
30 bags a week? Wow. That seems high.
30 years ago, recycling bottles and cans was all “hype” too. But once the nickel deposit was instituted, the amount of litter was quickly reduced, and recycling efforts began in earnest. Not perfect, but many of us now feel awkward throwing away a soda can.
Plastic bags are the least expensive, so stores will continue to use them until either customers refuse to take them, or local governments (like San Francisco) ban their use. This is how behavioral changes are started.
30 years from now, no one will remember plastic bags.
Bags flying through the air is littering the last time I looked and we have laws that could or should be enforced. And quite frankly, I would rather be hit by a plastic bag than a canvas bag!
However, littering is not my point. My point is that Whole Foods is positioning itself as a “green” company by stopping the use of plastic bags and I am calling you-know-what on that. It is marketing plain and simple. If the banning of plastic bags makes you feel better about Whole Foods and you spend more money there, then they have done their job. But don’t confuse it for genuine environmental concern. If they were really concerned about reducing their carbon footprint, the sale of plastic covered firewood and the importation of perishable items from far away, among other things, would not be occurring.
Jeff:
I am not saying that at all. What I am saying is that the elimination of bags has negligible environmental and cost impact and maximum marketing impact on Whole Foods. There are other steps they could have taken that would have had a greater impact but would have been more invisible (easy slogan: “No Plastic Bags!”).
Plastic bags are just the Styrofoam burger clamshell for the new decade: a popular way for people to feel good about the environment without really doing anything. In the end, Styrofoam was actually found to be less harmful to the environment on a life cycle basis than the paper clamshell that replaced it but that’s not really important. The same junk science is now got us turning food into fuel with ethanol in gasoline.
It all seems a bit cynical and contrived to me.
Paul:
Thanks for bringing up a great point, “the elimination of bags has negligible environmental and cost impact and maximum marketing impact,” as it seems that more and more companies are proclaiming small steps in the name of cleaning up their image.
Stew Leonards changed some light bulbs and my phone was ringing off the hook with calls from reporters who wanted to extract quotes from me about what a great effort it was. No go.
Perhaps what we need is a LEED-type of rating system for green business. That is, they’ve got to do x,y, and z but have a choice of which changes to make. Only when they’ve implemented a certain level of changes do they earn bragging rights.
If anyone is interested in discussing environmental issues, please join Fairfield County GreenDrinks for a social networking event at the Westport Arts Center, on Wed. 2/13 at 6 pm. Michel Nischan will speak. Find out more on CTGreenScene.org or search GreenDrinks in the NY Times.
And a first step nonetheless. I see nothing wrong with making money and marketing hay from something that will benefit the environment. Who knows, if more steps make more money, we’ll have ourselves a movement.
Who would have thought many US drivers would have foregone their SUVs for small Toyota hybrids? It shows that there is profit potential in the “green” business and profits are what will drive the movement the fastest.
Paul, it seems you’re using the “if a company doesn’t do everything it can possibly do, nothing it does matters” approach to conservation, which is self-defeating. Taking a first step in conservation, even if it is “wrapped in marketing” is a good thing for all involved. If it is successful and impactful, it leads to other steps.
Whole Foods also did away with the community bulletin board and most of the magazine titles.
Paul Greenberg opined on January 24, 2008 at 10:07 AM
>>>First off, there is plenty of landfill space out there so this is not really much of an issue. <<<
So is that why New York City closed the Staten Island landfills and now ships everything to Pennsylvania? Or the barge trying to find a place to take its garbage 21 years ago: http://wasteage.com/mag/waste_garbage_barge_recycling/
>>> If Whole Foods really wanted to save energy then why is the store so spread out? Why are the ceilings so high, and why do they have so much stuff that comes from far away? <<<
I think your complaint should be with The Food Emporium who did the renovations of that building in the eighties (seventies?) or perhaps the landlord: “RENZULLI ASSOC SHOPPING.” Wild Oats/Whole Foods is just the tenant.
>>>What about the corporate jet? <<<
To quote Mell Brooks “It’s good to be king.”
Paul, ya might want to throttle back on the caffeine so early in the day. :^)
Just to muddy the waters, this was from yesterday’s Hartford Courant (I finally had time to read it this morning).
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-bagit.artfeb05,0,2557383.story
Plastic Sacked
Grocers, Shoppers Increasingly Turn To Fabric Bags
By JOANN KLIMKIEWICZ
Courant Staff Writer
February 5, 2008
Linger around the checkout aisles at Whole Foods in West Hartford, and the evidence is clear. Whether it’s about peer pressure, a deepening environmental conscience or a head start on the upscale grocery chain’s campaign to ban plastic bags by Earth Day, far more customers are carrying their foodstuffs home in paper and reusable cloth sacks.
But head to the Stop & Shop just over the city line, and plenty of shoppers are still clutching armloads of double-bagged plastic
And a side bar from the same page. An eyeopener to say the least. I did receive a resuable fabric bag from a property inspection company I worked with last week. Very timely of them. Yes, it did have their logo on the sides.
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-plasticbagside.artfeb05,0,6697766.story
Paper Or Plastic?
February 5, 2008
It’s an age-old question and debate, and some answers may surprise you. Here’s the down and dirty on both types of bags, with figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
? Plastic grocery bags actually consume 40 percent less energy in production and generate 80 percent less solid waste than paper bags.
? Paper bags generate 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
? Two thousand plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, with the same amount of paper bags weighing 280
>>>>>>So is that why New York City closed the Staten Island landfills and now ships everything to Pennsylvania?
Homer Simpson says: “…money can be used in exchange for goods and services”. Sounds like it is cheaper to ship than to open a new facility. Along the economic vein that price is the result of supply and demand, I might also refer you to the National Solid Wastes Management Association’s survey of tipping fees for landfills which shows that fees have been essentially flat for 15 years. http://wastec.isproductions.net/webmodules/webarticles/articlefiles/478-Tipping%20Fee%20Bulletin%202005.pdf
That does not look like a shortage of space to me.
>>>I think your complaint should be with The Food Emporium who did the renovations of that building in the eighties (seventies?) or perhaps the landlord:
>>>If my firm needs 4,000 square feet to operate, why do I need to rent 8,000? Whole foods could rent less space and sublet the rest. <<<
Well Whole Foods has only been there for a short time. And Wild Oats doesn’t exist anymore. Windmill anyone?
>>>Paul, ya might want to throttle back on the caffeine so early in the day. :^) <<<
>>>Don
I would like to repeat what I said at the beginning of all this… I love that they are doing this! I
Matt:
Actually I have been a serious biker for 35 years and I DO follow the street signs when I bike.
I don’t think you should lump all cyclists together in the same way I would never lump all automobile drivers together with the person who nearly ran me over several years ago on Greens Farms Road while I was running….. 🙁
Paul,
We obviously should take this part of our discussion off the board. But as a licensed safety steward with the Sports Car Club of America, I have a unique perspective in driving, safety, and the relationship to ALL traffic, regardless of how erratic or unsafe cyclists and runners behave. If anyone is unsure of CT law, I recommend a review of CGA 14-286b: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/pub/Chap248.htm#Sec14-286b.htm
It seems many cyclists are oblivious to this statute.
To Gina’s point/post, we need to think globally and act locally. Whole Foods is at least trying (how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time). I am looking forward to LED home light bulbs to surpass the florescent bulbs in both cleanliness and energy consumption.