Today’s Good News: IKEA Charges For Plastic Bags
The Los Angeles Times assesses the movement of retailers away from plastic bags. In March, IKEA started charging 5 cents per plastic checkout bag, the first major retailer in the US to do so. They explain why at their checkouts: “The world uses a trillion plastic bags a year. Unfortunately most end up in the trash or in the ocean or in trees … and they take forever to disappear.” Lest anyone think they’re profiting from the decision, they donate the money to American Forests.
Americans toss about 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year, and fewer than 1% of them are recycled, according to IKEA, and the company’s goal in the U.S. is to cut its customers’ annual plastic bag consumption by at least 50% in the first year of the program to 35 million. IKEA was on track to achieve that goal. (After IKEA introduced its program in Britain last year, bag use plunged 95%.) Of course, in other countries, re-usable bags are the norm.
San Francisco will ban plastic bags this fall, and similar embargoes are being considered by other jurisdictions. A new California law requires large grocery stores and pharmacies to recycle plastic bags returned by customers and to offer reusable bags for purchase.
Read the whole story here
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