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Target & CVS taking steps to eliminate single use plastic bags
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Nation's 5th largest retailer in2008
Target, the nation's fifth-largest retailer in 2008 and CVS both began customer awareness programs on November 1st , designed to reduce the number of single use plastic bags their customers carry out of their stores every year.
Both programs are just in time for the Christmas and holiday seasons. Customers at all 1,700 Target locations nationwide will receive a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they bring into Target stores to pack their purchases every time they shop.
CVS' plan at its 7,000 stores, is to give participating customers cash bonuses for not using plastic bags. This plan is more cumbersome, requiring customers to ante up 99 cents to purchase a green tag that will be affixed to their own reusable bags when they shop.
CVS customers will receive an additional $1 cash bonus when they buy something and don't request plastic bags. Four visits are required to get the additional $1 bonus.
Green activists, working to reduce and eliminate single use plastic bags are buoyed by these new programs. While this is a step forward, it is worth noting that Target Australia completely eliminated all single use plastic bags in May 2008.
In fact, the U.S. lags behind many countries, including China who have already banned single use plastic bags. Green activists are watching to see how soon other U.S. retailers follow suit.
Allen Herskowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council was recently quoted as saying in USA TODAY
[...] the two programs could keep billions of plastic bags out of the environment and nudge other big retailers to take similar steps, says
According to Allen Herskowitz, ... "Plastic bags are the most ubiquitous form of waste on the planet," Herskowitz says. "They are among the most deadly forms of marine debris, lethal to threatened species of marine mammals throughout the world."
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