Massachusetts Uses 25% Fewer Plastic Bags!

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) are excited to "Sack the Bag" too! 

As of Summer 2010, the MassDEP and the MFA issued a press release announcing a 25% decrease in plastic and paper bag distribution since 2007 in participating supermarkets.  There are 384 participating stores among the following 12 chains that have tracked paper and plastic bag use since 2007: Big Y Supermarkets, Crosby’s, DeMoulas Market Basket, Donelan’s, Foodmaster, Hannaford Bros., Price Chopper, PriceRite, Roche Bros., Shaw’s Supermarkets, The Stop and Shop Supermarket Co., and Trucchi’s.

This is a completely voluntary-based approach for both the grocery chains and consumers, which requires training on both ends.  Consumers are reminded to bring their own bags; reminded to recycle their plastic bags; and are provided with cash incentives for using their own bags.  The grocery staff was trained to offer reusable bags and reduce wasteful bag use while bagging groceries.

The partnership between the MassDEP and the MFA aims to reduce grocery bag distribution by 33% by 2013.  However, with already with a 25% decrease just by mere motivation and a little bit of education, why not aim higher?  The truth is, we cannot afford to continue to litter our city and clog our land with continued use of plastic bags.  This effective partnership between the MFA (private institution) and the MassDEP (public institution) could use this successful measure to try other means of waste reduction, such as running trials of no plastic bag distribution, or charging a small fee for plastic bags.