Every time I go to the grocery store I usually kick myself for forgetting my reusable shopping bags. I often wonder what it will take to get me to remember them. I care about the environment. I like getting a nickle credit for using my own bags, but it clearly isn't enough to get me to bring them every time. So, I pose a series of questions to you (a mini-market driven question/answer session)
A. Do you regularly take reusable bags to the store?
B. Would you be more likely to bring your own bags if they charged for plastic bags (punitive) or if you were credited money (rewarded)?
C. How much would stores have to charge for a bag at check out or offer/pay you for using your own in order for you to bring your own bags everytime?
Andranel Brown
Good question ... I always seem to forget my reusable bags. If I could remember to store them in my car, I might have a better shot at remembering.
ReplyDeleteIn thinking about what it would take for me to remember, I do not think rewards or punitive assessments are going to do the trick. The only thing that would be foolproof would be necessity. Think "No shirt, No Shoes, No BAGS ... no service!"
Missy Fraze
I do take reusable bags to the store. It took a while to train myself, but now it is a habit.
ReplyDeleteI like to be rewarded for remembering rather than punished for forgetting, but to bring sweeping changes in community plastic bag usage, the stick might work better than the carrot. Isn't that what Pagouvian taxes are all about?
Perhaps stores could charge $.10/bag and commit to using the funds raised from from bag charges for recycling costs, or plastic bag garbage remediation. Because definitely, plastic bags generate negative externalities, especially this time of year when they are blowing around and landing in trees and bushes.
Jeanne Larsen
I too always forget to bring my bags. I have plenty of them but for some reason just can't remember to grab them as I head off to the store. I think for me to remember my bags the penalty would have to be pretty big. Not sure how much the stores would have to charge. Maybe $1.00 / bag??
ReplyDeleteJeri Kenyon
We also have reusable bags, and never seem to remember to take them with us. I agree with Jean's approach, although I think it would take Jeri's proposed penalty to get us into the habit. Charging $1/bag, with the proceeds dedicated to remediating the effects of plastic pollution, would change lots of people's habits.
ReplyDeleteDave Oberg
I, too, have a plethora of reusable bags, and I only use my own bags about twenty-five percent of the time. I don't just forget them, I often have something else in them, which renders them virtually useless. If stores charged $1/bag like Dave suggests, I'd be much more diligent about emptying out those bags before I went shopping.
ReplyDeleteAlyson South
I take the bags to the store all the time. I just forget to take them INTO the store from my car, and then I get too lazy to go retrieve them. I might remember or go back out and get them if there was a $1 charge for each bag they provided, or refunded a dollar for each bag I brought in. The last time I shopped I purchased about 10 items and the grocer bagged them into 7 bags. At those rates, if they continue to bag groceries like that, it would really be worth my while to bring my own bags!
ReplyDeleteShari Durocher
How about stores just stop giving out bags? Like Costco does, they recycle boxes. If you weren't given a choice, then people will change.
ReplyDeleteJulie Garrigus
Julie,
ReplyDeleteA great alternative in theory. If the goal is to eradicate waste this only partially works.
Andranel