New York
CNN
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Walmart is phasing out single-use paper and plastic to-go bags at cashiers in its New York, Connecticut and Colorado stores this month.
The company previously stopped distributing single-use plastic bags in New York and Connecticut, as well as parts of Colorado. Walmart is offering reusable shopping his bags starting at 74 cents for customers who don’t have their own bags.
Walmart is trying to get ahead of laws in several states that are cracking down on plastic.Many customers are also demanding change, and Walmart is committing to a corporate environmental plan to achieve zero waste in its U.S. operations by 2025. Outline your goals.
Those states and others led by Democrats have taken more aggressive action on environmental policy, and Walmart believes there is room to expand its efforts. According to the environmental group Surfrider Foundation, 10 states, as well as more than 500 regions across the country, have passed measures to ban or limit thin plastic and sometimes paper bags.
But Walmart doesn’t have a nationwide bag policy.
Walmart and other companies are slowing down in Republican-ruled states that oppose plastic cuts and other policies to combat climate change. According to the Surfider Foundation, 20 states have so-called preemption laws that prohibit local governments from adopting plastic bag regulations.
Eliminating single-use plastic and paper to-go bags is “very important,” says former Environmental Protection Agency regional manager and nonprofit working to end single-use plastic pollution. Judith Enck, current president of Beyond Plastics, said.
“There are reusable alternatives,” she said. “It makes people aware of the need to cut down on plastic.
Plastic bags appeared in supermarkets and retail chains in the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to that, customers used paper bags to carry groceries and other items home from the store. Retailers switched to plastic bags because they were cheaper.
Americans use about 100 billion plastic bags each year. However, single-use bags and other plastics pose various environmental hazards.
Plastic production is a major source of fossil fuel emissions that contribute to the climate crisis and extreme weather. As of 2020, the U.S. plastics industry contributes at least 232 million tons of global warming annually, according to a 2021 report by Beyond Plastics. This amount corresponds to the average emissions of 116 average-sized coal-fired power plants.
By 2030, the organization predicts that the US plastics industry’s impact on climate change will exceed the impact of the country’s coal-fired power generation.
Plastic bags are also a major source of litter, accumulating in oceans, rivers and sewers, harming wildlife. According to environmental advocacy group Ocean His Conservancy, plastic bags are his fifth most common type of plastic waste.
According to the EPA, plastic bags are non-biodegradable and only 10% are recycled. If the bags are accidentally placed in traditional recycling bins, they can leak into the environment or clog recycling equipment at material recovery facilities.
Paper bags, on the other hand, are easier to recycle and biodegradable than plastic bags, but some states and cities have banned the use of paper bags because they consume a lot of carbon dioxide in their production.
As the environmental impact of plastic bags began to be scrutinized, cities and counties began banning their use.
California was the first state to ban single-use plastic bags in 2016.
The ban on plastic bags will reduce the number of these bags in stores and encourage customers to bring reusable bags or pay a small fee for paper bags.
“An ideal bag law would ban plastic and add fees to paper,” Enck said. Some customers hesitate to bring their own bags, but she likened the plastic bag law to seatbelt requirements and a ban on cigarettes.
However, the restrictions had some unintended consequences.
In New Jersey, grocery delivery services have switched to heavy-duty bags due to a ban on single-use plastic and paper bags. Their customers complain that they have a ton of reusable sturdy bags and don’t know what to do with them.
Reusable bags (cloth totes and thicker, more durable plastic bags) are also not a perfect solution unless you actually reuse them.
A heavy-duty plastic bag made from the same material as a regular thin single-use plastic bag, but with twice the weight, it doubles the environmental impact unless you reuse it more often.
According to a 2020 report produced for the United Nations Environment Programme, thick, durable bags should be used an estimated 10-20 times compared to single-use plastic bags.
The production of cotton tote bags also has an environmental footprint. According to a UNEP report, a cotton bag needs to be used 50-150 times to have a lower climate impact than one single-use plastic bag.
There is no data on how many times people use reusable bags, but consumers are more likely to pay for them and probably use them hundreds of times, Enck said. However, given enough time, they are biodegradable and pose no threat to marine life like plastic bags do.
To encourage the transition to reusable bags, Walmart has placed reusable bags in more locations in stores and added signage. , adjusted the checkout line.
In 2019, Walmart, Target and CVS also led funding for Beyond the Bag, an initiative to accelerate the development of alternatives to single-use plastic bags.
Enck said Walmart’s efforts to go above and beyond what the law requires are commendable. She also named Trader Joe’s, which always carries paper bags, and Aldi, which will remove plastic bags from all of its US stores by the end of 2023, as leaders in efforts to eliminate single-use plastic.
While more states may ban plastic bags in the next few years and retailers may phase them out, it will be difficult to eliminate new plastic bags in the United States.
Backed by plastics industry manufacturing groups, 20 states have so-called preemption laws that prevent local governments from adopting plastic bag regulations, according to the Surfider Foundation.
Enck says these laws are harmful, hurting local taxpayers who bear the cost of clearing trash and dealing with problems at material collection facilities when plastic bags clog equipment. claimed to be
“State legislatures and governors should not prevent local governments from acting to reduce pollution in their areas,” she said.
CNN’s Katie Hunt and Rachel Ramirez contributed to this article.
