Target Announces 5-cent Incentive to BYOBag

USA Today - 10.21.09

Target has announced it will start offering a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag customers use to pack their purchases. An earlier pilot test among 100 Target stores earlier this year resulted in a 58% reduction in the number of plastic bags used. 

Read the entire article here.

Plastic Bag Costumes

Emagazine.com - 10.09

 
"This Halloween, you can spare the landfill more plastic bags and make an environmental - and fashion - statement with this collection of plastic bag costume ideas. And don't forget to bring your reusable bags along to collect that candy!"

See the Top 10 Plastic Bag Costumes.

Florida’s environmental officials propose bag ban

Orlando Sentinel.com – Oct. 14, 2009

“Florida environmental officials want to make the state the first in the nation to prohibit throwaway plastic and paper bags. The proposed ban would follow a five-year phaseout, during which escalating fees, starting at a nickel a bag, would be imposed whenever such bags were used… By the fifth and final year of the state’s proposed phaseout, anyone wanting a paper or plastic bag for merchandise would be charged a quarter a bag.”

Read entire article here.

CVS Offers Incentive to Bring a Reusable Bag

NBC 10 News – 10.16.09

CVS joins the growing list of retailers offering customers incentives for bringing reusable bags. The company is implementing a green bag card system. For every four shopping trips with a cloth reusable bag, the customer will receive a coupon for $1. There's also word that Target stores are offering a 5-cent credit for every reusable bag used.

Read more about the CVS program here.

Cheap Reusable Bags are Tomorrow’s Landfill

The Envirosax Blog – Oct. 8, 2009

 All over the globe, more and more people are carrying reusable shopping bags. “Unfortunately, these cheap reusable shopping bags are often more of a marketing ploy than a great choice for the environment. To be effective in reducing waste, reusable bags must be able to be reused time and again, and therefore must be extremely durable… Don’t be fooled into thinking that polypropylene is an environmentally sound alternative. You may even find the term ‘biodegradable’ on some of these bags, but the standards for this term is that the bag must be biodegradable in a ‘commercially managed compost environment.’…”

Read the entire blog entry here.

Reduce Consumption with these Simple Tips

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Sept. 21, 2009

Eight simple tips to reduce your use of paper towels, beverage cups, milk/juice jugs, paper, cleaning products, batteries, dry-cleaner bags and food containers. For example, “Many cleaning products are available in large jugs for decanting into the smaller spray bottles. Also, look for concentrated cleaner refills, for which you can reuse the old spray bottle and just add the water…”

Read all 8 Tips here.

Palo Alto Bans Plastic Bags

The Mercury News – 9.18.09

“Out of sight, out of mind. Plastic bags officially vanished from Palo Alto grocery stores Friday, and customers scarcely noticed them missing… Although the city ban on plastic shopping bags went into effect on Friday, all seven of the city’s full-service groceries had already made the switch to offering only paper and reusable bags. On Friday afternoon, customers were using both, happily.”

Read the entire article here.