Retailers go beyond paper or plastic

Macy's put solar panels on some store roofs, is working to cut energy use, recycling more and generally trying to "green up." But the department store still wants shoppers to use bags. Some bag, any bag.

"It is not necessarily a good thing for people to be walking out of a store with merchandise that's not in a bag," explained spokesman Jim Sluzewski. Sure, some people would rather forgo having their purchases put in a bag, but Sluzewski also believes customers wouldn't appreciate being stopped for a receipt check every time they leave a store.

So Macy's has come up with a compromise.

The chain will replace the 43 million or so laminated paper bags that it uses annually with a recyclable version made of 30 percent recycled materials. In addition, it will begin selling reusable cotton totes.

Retailers nationwide are moving to give environmentally active customers choices while fending off, as much as possible, government rules that would limit the industry's options. The shopping bag offers a particularly visible example of how different stores have moved quickly to tailor the growing green trends to fit.

A few years ago, the American bag seemed secure in its job, taking home goods and doing a little advertising work on the side. Debates were limited mainly to paper versus plastic.

But environmentalists noted it takes hundreds of years for plastic to break down. People could see bags littering streets, and statistics showed only a small percentage making it to recycling. San Francisco passed rules to require use of compostable bags.

Rather than be forced to go that route, many retailers found other ways to answer the call for fewer bags on the planet.

Whole Foods Markets has been selling reusable bags for years but is now going a step further. The natural foods grocer was on track to stop using disposable plastic grocery bags in its 270 stores by Friday, a company spokeswoman said.

Swedish furniture chain Ikea will stop offering disposable plastic bags for purchase by October. The retailer started its phase-out last year by charging 5 cents for plastic bags and donating the proceeds to a forestry group. The company claimed it reduced U.S. plastic bag consumption from 70 million plastic bags to 35 million.

Shoppers at Wal-Mart, Target, Giant Eagle, Trader Joe's and many other groceries now see displays with reusable bags for sale. Discount grocer Aldi has long charged for disposable bags as part of its low-cost business model.

The deeper retailers get into the issues around the shopping bag, the more nuanced it can be. McGinnis Sisters specialty food stores introduced reusable bags made in China last summer. In March, the grocer began offering more expensive versions made in the United States.

The concern was not just national pride but also the environmental costs of transporting bags. So far, consumers have purchased about 2,500 bags from China and 800 of the newer offerings. Jennifer R. Daurora, who handles business development for the stores, estimates at least 25 percent of customers bring a reusable bag.

Giant Eagle officials have said in the past that they evaluated using compostable bags but rejected them. Instead the company has been pushing recycling and reusable bags. Last year, the O'Hara, Pa.., grocer said it collected for recycling more than 1,200 tons of film plastic, much of which wasn't from bags, compared with 450 tons in 2006.

The company has sold several hundred thousand reusable bags since it began offering them in November 2006. This year, Giant Eagle put up posters promoting reusable bags.

(E-mail Teresa F. Lindeman at tlindeman(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)