Green Memo: Plastic Bag Bans...and More

New Jersey proposes statewide plastic grocery bag ban: If passed would be first in USA

Following on the heels of recent plastic grocery bag bans in San Francisco and Oakland, California in the USA, and in cities in Europe and Australia, New Jersey might become the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags by food retailers. In England, the city of London also could ban the bags as early as November 27, when Parliament debates a plastic shopping bag ban for all retailers in the city. We review the growing international movement to ban plastic grocery bags.

New Jersey would become the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags by the state's food retailers under a bill introduced yesterday in the state assembly. If passed, the law would require all retail food stores over 10,000 square feet in the state to phase-out the use of plastic grocery bags in three years.

The bill's primary author, Democratic Assemblyman Herb Conaway, says "plastic bags may be cheap and convenient, but they have costly long-term environmental consequences that just can't be ignored. In proposing the legislation Conway, a medical doctor, said nearly 1 trillion plastic grocery bags are used worldwide each year. "We need to get these bags out of the waste stream because they are polluting our soil and water," he explained in announcing the plastic bag ban bill yesterday.

The bill, if passed, requires New Jersey food retailers with stores larger than 10,000 square feet to reduce their use of plastic grocery bags by 50% by December 31, 2009, and eliminate the use of all plastic bags by the end of December, 2010. The stores also would have to provide in-store recycling bins for plastic bags and offer reusable grocery bags for sale as part of the legislation.

New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman Jack Connors, the plastic bag ban bill's co-sponsor, says plastic bags account for 90% of grocery bags in the U.S. "The (plastic) bags end up as litter, take longer to decompose in the environment than paper bags and harm wildlife," he said in explaining one of his reasons for co-sponsoring the bill with Assemblyman Conaway. The stores would still be able to use paper grocery bags if the bill passes.

San Francisco ban went into effect yesterday

San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags in retail food stores. The San Francisco law, which went into effect yesterday, requires all retail food stores that do over $2 million a year in sales to no longer offer plastic bags for shoppers. The stores can offer approved biodegradable "plastic" bags made out of corn starch and similar natural materials. Paper bags also are allowed under the San Francisco law.

Oakland following San Francisco's lead

Following San Francisco's lead, the Oakland City Council recently passed a law banning the use of petroleum-based plastic grocery bags by food retailers with stores doing over $1 million in annual sales. The Oakland law pertains to plastic bags used at store's checkout stands, and not those used to bag fresh produce or meats. The law, which hasn't gone into effect yet, allows for the use of biodegradable bags such as those made from cornstarch, like in San Francisco.

The Oakland plastic bag ban also includes chain drug stores along with the food stores. San Francisco's law also includes chain drug stores but they get a one-year (from November 20, 2007) grace period, and must eliminate the bags beginning in November, 2008.

Numerous other California cities are considering similar bans. These cities include nearby Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Davis, Chico and Santa Monica.

California's statewide plastic grocery bag legislation

In September, the state of California implemented a law that requires food retailers to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in stores and to offer reusable grocery bags for sale. The California Grocers' Association, the state's supermarket trade association, supported the legislation in part as a way to hopefully prevent outright bans like the San Francisco and Oakland laws, and similar plastic grocery bag ban bills working their way through city councils in other California cities.

New York considering plastic bag legislation similar to California's

The state of New York is currently considering legislation similar to California's which would require all food retailers in the state over a certain size to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores as well as offer reusable grocery bags for sale. There's talk in New York City however about legislation similar to San Francisco's and New Jersey's which would create an outright ban on the bags despite the pending state legislation. Cities can pass their own laws--including bans--despite state legislation.

London plastic shopping bag ban bill before Parliament next week

last week, the London Assembly, a local governing body consisting of London's 33 local authorities, approved a bill which would ban all plastic grocery bags in the city.

The so called "shopping bag bill" will go to Parliament on November 27 for debate and possible passage into law. The London Assembly can't pass an outright ban bill itself but serves as an advisory body for Parliament.

Polls in London are showing 60% of the city's residents either support an outright plastic shopping bag ban like the bill calls for or support a 15 pence per-bag surcharge, with the money going to recycling programs. The per-bag tax is a possible alternative to an outright ban.

Supporters of the bag tax say doing so would decrease plastic shopping bag usage and provide funds to recycle the bags. Supporters of the ban say that's hogwash. They sight as their evidence next door Ireland, which passed a similar plastic shopping bag tax in 2002. They argue plastic bag use in Ireland hasn't dropped at all since the 2002 tax was implemented because the demand for stronger, heavier bags has resulted in just as much plastic being used in total.

If passed, the London bill would ban the use of free plastic bags at all retail stores, not just food retailers, although grocers are the most prolific users of the bags. The UK's top food retailing chains--Sainsburys, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and others--are against an outright ban but say they're committed to reducing the use of plastic shopping bags in their stores.

All of the UK's leading food retailers sell reusable grocery bags and offer paper bags in addition to plastic. Many also give out reusable bags to shoppers for free and give a discount to the customer for each reusable bag they use on each shopping trip. The retailers say they want to be able to work to get shoppers to change their behavior in terms of using reusable bags rather than throwaway plastic bags. However, they say they still want to be able to offer shoppers the choice of plastic along with paper and various types of reusable grocery bags.

Based on British consumer demand and the examples of cities in France, Germany, Ireland and Australia--and now the USA--which have passed bans, it appears a plastic shopping bag ban is likely to happen in London. If an outright ban like the current bill scheduled to be debated next week in Parliament doesn't pass, it's highly likely we'll see something like a combination bag tax and partial ban enacted into law in London soon.

British PM Brown backs plastic shopping bag elimination

In fact, yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he's backing the current campaign to eliminate plastic shopping bags--not just in London but in all the country. In a speech laying out his "green" agenda, Brown said he is calling a forum to be attended by British supermarket operators, The British Retail Consortium ( a trade group) and other affiliated groups, to discuss how they can urgently end the use of disposable plastic shopping bags.

U.S. trade group supports recycling laws over plastic bag bans

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., a group called the Progressive Bag Alliance, a Texas-based trade group for plastic bag manufacturers, is working to get states and cities to author plastic grocery bag recycling legislation like California's rather than outright bag bans. The group says they've thus far worked with a number of cities in the U.S., including Austin, Texas, Annapolis, Maryland and Philadelphia to create stricter plastic bag recycling standards and programs instead of banning the use of the plastic grocery bags by food retailers.

Changing consumer behavior the ultimate goal

The goal of all these programs and new laws--whether its an outright plastic bag ban, recycling program, bag tax or other legislation--is to get shoppers to change their behavior. If it became routine for shoppers to take their own reusable bags to the grocery store such legislation wouldn't be needed. However, it's a fact that laws often are needed to change behavior--that's why we have so many of them. Of course, one can view a law as good or bad depending if its your ox that's getting gored or not.

In the case of the plastic bag industry they're feeling gored. On the other hand, the industry might think about speeding up their development and marketing of corn starch-based biodegradable grocery bags. These bags already exist but are offered by just a few suppliers. The conventional plastic grocery bag manufacturer who is the first to convert from selling exclusively or primarily conventional plastic bags to the biodegradable in a big way will be able to have first mover advantage and lead the market. And it's a huge market waiting to be dominated by a large plastic bag manufacturer with the resources to do so.

Paper grocery bag manufacturers at first blush might look like they are in the catbird seat with so many cities and states considering plastic grocery bag bans. After all, that means more sales of paper bags to retailers. And until consumer behavior shifts to using reusable bags as routine that will be the case. However, it just might be a matter of time before paper bag bans come next. Although the bags are recyclable many still end-up being tossed in the garbage and going to landfills rather than to the recycling center. As such, might per-bag recycling taxes and outright bans eventually be enacted for paper as well as plastic?

Food and other retailers can do more

In terms of food retailers, we suggest they offer shoppers more incentives to regularly use reusable grocery bags. Large retailers who can afford it should give a certain number of the inexpensive reusable bags out for free to shoppers each month. They should also, like many already do, give shoppers five cents (or even 10 cents) or so each time the customer uses their own reusable bag rather than a free paper or plastic one provided by the grocer.

An example of retailers who currently could do much more are the large UK supermarket chains who say they're against the London plastic shopping bag ban. It might be wise for them to step-up their efforts at encouraging shoppers to use reusable bags pronto. Why not a free Sainsburys' or Tesco inexpensive canvas grocery bag for each customer order over $10.00 for the next year. The bags can be bought cheaply in volume by the retailers--and they can afford it as a positive cost of doing business.

Creative incentives needed to change consumer behavior

Cities and retailers also need to work together to come up with creative ways to change shopper behavior from the common use of paper or plastic to the less common but growing use of reusable bags. After all, even if conventional plastic grocery bags are banned everywhere, there still remains paper. Although paper bags are recyclable as we mentioned above, they have to be disposed of properly by consumers in order to get recycled rather than tossed into a landfill.

Creating a culture worldwide where people use reusable shopping bags as a daily course is the long-term solution to the problem. In order to do this consumers first have to accept responsibility for their environmental behavior.

Retailers also have to accept more responsibility for the throw away items they sell and offer in their stores. In fact, we're surprised a major supermarket retailer in the U.S. or Europe hasn't stopped using conventional plastic grocery bags on its own as a demonstration of its green principles. We think its coming, by the way. Some already are offering biodegradable plastic bags only, but its few and far between in terms of the larger chains doing so. Most all food retailers in the U.S. and Europe also offer a variety of reusable grocery bags for sale, ranging from 99 cent biodegradable reusable bags to more expensive canvas bags.

If retailers can offer more economic incentives, like free reusable bags and other ideas, we believe shopper behavior will change more rapidly than many can imagine. We aren't saying cities shouldn't ban plastic bags if they want. Rather, looking to the long-term as we mentioned above, its the behavior change that's key--moving shoppers from using any type of throw away bag to reusable bags should be the overall goal. Getting there will require more than just laws--it will require consumers to accept responsibility for their environmental actions. Governments, retailers and other private sector entities can encourage this behavior change with creative, positive actions.

Green Notes

Locavores have officially arrived:

Oxford University Press has named the word locavore as its Word of the Year in the 2007 edition of its New Oxford American Dictionary.

A locavore is a person who buys and eats local foods; those sourced not farther than 100 miles of where they reside. In more common parlance, locavore's are part of the "buy local, eat local" foods movement.

This is the second year in a row in which Oxford University Press has named a "green" or environmental term its word of the year in its authoritative dictionary. Last year's honor went to the term "carbon neutral."

The inclusion in the dictionary of locavore this year, and awarding it word of the year status, should validate the word and locavore lifestyle in the same way naming carbon neutral last year did for that term. With inclusion in the Oxford American Dictionary, locavores have been legitimized and arrived culturally so to speak.

Green themes seemed to be at the top of the dictionary editors choice list this year. Locavore beat out two other green-oriented words or terms, "upcycling" (the mother of all recycling terms) and "colony collapse disorder" (which refers to the symptom affecting worldwide honey bee colonies).

Have a green Thanksgiving: Adopt a turkey rather than eating one

Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA. The centerpieces of the holiday is family and friends---and food. The main course eaten by the majority of Americans on Thanksgiving day is the turkey. The mighty bird, traditionally served with side dishes of bread stuffing, sweet and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and assorted vegetables, will grace the tables of millions of American families tomorrow.

However, there is a green alternative to cooking and eating a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Farm Sanctuary, an animal rescue, education and advocacy group, is asking Americans to feed a turkey this Thanksgiving rather than eat it. Through its Adopt-a-Turkey program. Farm Sanctuary is offering to let you adopt a Turkey for a one-time fee of $20.00. For your twenty bucks you get a color photograph of your new feathered family member, an adoption certificate, your turkey's biography, and a one year subscription to the non-profit organization's quarterly newsletter.

Farm Sanctuary says it's rescued thousands of turkeys from the meat cleaver over the past 20 years. The group operates shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA, where your adopted turkey will live out the rest of its natural life in a human and pleasant environment, never having to again worry about becoming a Thanksgiving day main course.

It's not too late to adopt a turkey by the way. You can do so anytime during the year, as well as make a donation to the group via its website to help support its other work in animal rescue and education. We're having turkey tomorrow but we still plan on adopting one. After all, if U.S. President George W. Bush can pardon a turkey like he did the other day at the White House, the least we can do is adopt one. By the way, we're referring to the actual turkey President Bush pardoned, not Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby. That pardon was earlier in the year.

Meat The Meatrix:

Speaking of meatless meals, a new animated movie, The Meatrix a takeoff on The Matrix movie trilogy, describes the evils of factory farming in a fun, light hearted way. And just like The Matrix, The Meatrix also is a trilogy.

In the first film in the trilogy, The Meatrix I, Leo The Pig, happy and content in his pen, is greeted by Moophius, a slick-looking, deep-voiced bull dressed in a black trench coat, sharp green necktie and dark sunglasses. "Have you heard about the Meatrix, Moophius asks Leo? Do you want to know what it is?" "The Meatrix, Moophuis explains, is a lie we tell ourselves about where our meat and animal products come from, he tells Leo with a sly look on his face."

The second film in The Meatrix trilogy, The Meatrix II: Revolting, takes on the dairy industry and some of the practices used by some of its players. The third and last film in the trilogy, The Meatrix II 1/2, pays a visit to a meat processing facility, where the narrator says, "We learn how we feed our Fast Food Nation."

You can learn more about The Meatrix trilogy at the films' website. You also can watch a free movie trailer at the website.

Ant- corporate plastic bottled water group says 'think outside the bottle':

The group "Think Outside The Bottle," a coalition comprised of citizens, activists, environmental groups, companies that make tap water filteration systems and reusable water bottles, and others, are asking consumers to take a pledge to give up commercially bottled water in plastic bottles and switch to tap water.

On their website, the group asks consumers to commit to drinking tap water and using reusable water bottles rather than buying commercially bottled water. They argue it's much more ecologically efficient to use tap water at home, and to fill a reusable water bottle with it when going outside the house, rather than buying water commercially bottled in plastic bottles which tends to travel vast distances and end-up needing to be recycled or worse being dumped in a landfill.

The rallying cry to "Think Outside The Bottle" seems to be catching on with many consumers, including numerous celebrities. According to the group, actors martin Sheen and Bill Mckibbon have taken the pledge, and organizations like the Sierra Club, Earth Policy Institute, Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups endorse the pledge. Six U.S. cities also have endorsed the pledge thus far: Salt Lake City, Utah, Boston, and Berkeley, San Leandro and Emeryville in Northern California, as have international municipalities and organizations.

Numerous restaurants in the U.S. also support the program and have taken the pledge to stop selling commercially bottled water in their establishments. Students from colleges and universities throughout the U.S. have taken the pledge as well, giving up buying bottled water and instead filling reusable water bottles with tap water. Faith communities, ranging from Catholic nun orders to Methodist and Presbyterian groups, support the campaign and have taken the pledge as well. You can read a list of pledge endorsers to date here.

As of today, 14,918 consumers have taken the pledge on the group's website to stop buying and drinking commercially bottled water and switch to tap water. The goal is for 25,000 people to take the pledge in what the group calls the first round.

The coalition is focused on the U.S. but has taken the campaign international. And it's not just individuals and non-profit organizations who are supporting the pledge. Companies like Clorox, which makes and markets the Brita Home Tap Water Filteration System and other tap water filter makers, along with companies that produce and sell reusable water bottles, are supporting the coalition as well.

Photo credits: Oxford dictionary courtesy Treehugger.com.

Green Retailing Memo: California State Assembly Committee to Vote on Plastic Bag-Fee Measure Monday; Many Grocer's Support Bag-Fee Legislation

On Monday (April 14) the Natural Resource Committee of the California State Legislature is set to vote on a measure that would impose a mandatory fee of 25-cents per-bag on the use of free, single-use plastic carrier bags at all grocery stores and pharmacies in the state, regardless of the stores' size.

According to the legislation, which if passed will then go to the full California State Assembly for a binding vote, the money raised by the 25-cent per single-use plastic carrier bag fee would be divided-up using a per capita formula between the state's local governments to be used for litter prevention and reduction efforts and programs.

If the bill makes it out of committee to the full California State Assembly and then passes that body with a majority vote, it would be the first statewide mandatory per-bag fee law in the United States.

There has been very little media attention in the Golden State regarding the proposed statewide 25-cent single-use plastic carrier bag legislation. This is largely because the vote on Monday is only a committee vote. While in committee, legislation can still be amended and changed, although since the bill is coming to a vote on Monday that's generally a signal the committee majority party chair (Democrat) and the ranking member (Republican) have agreed most of the amendments to the bill if any have been made and it's time for a full committee vote.

Our California state government sources tell us the chances for the 25-cent per-bag fee legislation to pass in the Natural Resource Committee on Monday are pretty good.

One interesting aspect of the proposed legislation is that to date there has been very little if any opposition from either the state's supermarket and pharmacy retailing trade associations, such as the California Grocers' Association, or individual grocery retailing chains or independents in the state.

In part this is because as we mentioned earlier, the legislation is still in committee rather than being up for a binding vote in the full state assembly.

However, that's only a small part of the reason for the lack of any significant opposition to the proposed law.

The more interesting aspect of the story is that numerous supermarket chains and independent grocers in the state agree with the 25-cent per plastic bag fee legislation, or are at least not inclined to oppose it. Part of the reason these grocery retailers might agree with the proposed statewide law is they see either outright bans or per-bag fee laws coming on a city-by-city piecemeal basis anyway.

As mentioned above, San Francisco passed a single-use plastic carrier bag law last year, which has now been in affect for about eight months. The law is limited in that only grocery stores and retail pharmacy's which operate stores over 10,000 square feet are banned from offering shoppers the free plastic bags to pack their purchases in. Department stores and mass merchandisers regardless of size are exempt from the law, as are the city's hundreds of small mom and pop grocery stores, convenience stores and green grocers, among others.

Across the Bay, the city of Oakland has passed a similar law. However it's currently in the courts because an association representing plastic grocery bag manufacturers has challenged the ordinance.

Other California city's, ranging from nearby Bay Area cities Berkeley and Palo Alto, to tiny Willits in the north coast, Davis in the Sacramento region, and Santa Monica and others in Southern California, are proposing outright bans on the single-use plastic carrier bags.

Huge Los Angeles County also is getting ready to propose legislation that would either ban the bags completely or impose a per-bag fee.

The state of California also passed a law last year which requires all supermarket chains and independents with stores over a certain square footage to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores and to sell reusable shopping totes in each store.

It's this climate which we believe is the reason there hasn't been any significant industry opposition to the proposed per-bag fee legislation thus far. In fact, numerous California grocers seem to be just fine with--and in some cases even supportive of--the proposed bag-fee law which will be voted on in committee on Monday.

Bay Area grocers voice support for per-bag fees at meeting

For example, at a meeting of grocery industry leaders and grocers held yesterday morning by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Palo Alto, a number of grocers attending the gathering voiced their support of a single-use plastic carrier bag fee rather than seeing outright bans happen on a city-by-city piecemeal basis, which is occurring.

The city of Palo Alto is planning to implement a law on April 28 which will ban plastic grocery bags from being used in the city's 13 largest supermarkets and pharmacy's.

The grocers at yesterday's meeting said they oppose the Palo Alto plastic bag-ban. But not perhaps for the reasons you might think.

Although the grocers oppose the city ordinance, they said it isn't because they have a fondness for the single-use plastic bags. Rather, they argued since laws like the San Francisco bag ban have been implemented (some of the grocers at the meeting have stores in San Francisco as well as in Palo Alto) what they've seen is a surge in shoppers requesting paper bags, even though all of the stores are selling reusable shopping bags for as little as 99 cents each, and have even held free reusable bag giveaway events to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags to the stores.

Dave Bennett, President of local upscale supermarket chain Mollie Stone's, which has a store in San Francisco, along with a number of stores in the region, told the group since the plastic bag ban was enacted in San Francisco "our paper bag usage (in that store) has shot through the roof."

Dan Conway, the corporate director of state and local governmental affairs for supermarket chain Safeway Stores, Inc. which is headquartered in the Bay Area, said paper bags cost grocers about 10 times as much as the single-use plastic carrier bags. He didn't say if Safeway is opposing or supporting the plastic bag fee legislation set for a committee vote on Monday.

The consensus among the grocers at the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday was that they would go along with some sort of per-bag fee, including putting a surcharge on paper grocery bags as well as plastic carrier bags.

They further said they are in support of an aggressive campaign, which they would help support financially and materially, that would launch an educational program in the city, which is home to Stanford University and many high-tech companies, designed to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags, including holding frequent free reusable bag giveaway days in their stores.

The grocers, along with Tim James who is with the California Grocers Association trade organization and was at the meeting, also said they want all retailers to be included in any law which puts a fee on plastic and paper bags, not just supermarkets and pharmacies.

"Allowing consumers to use plastic bags at some stores, but not at others (types) sends a mixed message," James told the group at the meeting.

Another grocer, John Garcia of the local multi-store independent JJ&F Fine Foods, agreed with James. He said, "My personal feeling is you just make this big bang (a law imposing a fee on both plastic and paper carrier bags) and then there is no confusion. Everybody does the same thing, and it's done."

Safeway's Conway told the group instead of banning the plastic bags, the city council should create a per-bag fee scheme, perhaps indicating that Safeway will support the statewide plastic bag-fee scheme set to be voted on in the Natural Resource Committee on Monday?

"Adding a fee would literally solve the problem with single-use bags," Conway said. "You (the city of Palo Alto)would see the swiftest and most dramatic decline in single-use bags in the entire country, hands down," he added.

Other representatives of Bay Area supermarket chains and independents joined in the chorus saying they too would likely support a single-use plastic carrier bag fee like the one set to be voted on by the Natural Resource State Assembly committee on Monday.

A spokesman for upscale Bay Area-based grocery chain Andronico's Market, which has one store in Palo Alto and others located throughout the Bay Area, said he supported charging a fee for the now free plastic grocery bags.

"You (the city of Palo Alto) need to take it (plastic bag ordinance) to the next step," he said. "If we've been giving these (plastic grocery bags) away since the 1970's and not getting reuse out of them, it seems like the fee would be the most effective; you might even get national attention," he told the Palo Alto city officials who were present at the meeting.

Local independent grocer Steve Piazza, who owns the 3-store upscale Piazza's Fine Foods chain in the area, said he too would go along with a law that imposes a per-bag surcharge on the now free plastic bags, as well as on paper grocery sacks.

The city officials at the meeting, along with the grocers present as well as the local business leaders who are members of the city's Chamber of Commerce, said at the meeting they felt it was an historical morning. The grocers' commented it was the first time they could recall being able to sit down with city officials as a group and be able to give input and perhaps shape or change a policy that effects them directly.

Palo Alto is set to enact its single-use plastic carrier bag ban on April 28. The law will only ban supermarkets and pharmacies over a certain square footage from offering the free, single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores. That's why only 13 local supermarkets are affected by the ban. All other types of retailers, along with smaller grocery and convenience stores will still be able to use the single-use plastic carrier bags.

After the meeting, Phil Bobel, the city's environmental compliance manager who is responsible for making the ban happen on April 28, said he was willing to work with the grocers on the issue, and would consider recommending to his bosses in the city that the upcoming ban perhaps be postponed until September, so the city and grocers could work together on the issue.

Further, he said if the grocers' seriously supported and worked on gaining support in the next few months for a per-bag fee instead of the ban, he might consider suggesting his bosses take that matter to the city council for review before September.

After the meeting however, a number of city officials and others in the audience told us they believe the city will go forward with the single-use plastic carrier bag ban on April 24 because such a large majority of Palo Alto voters are in favor of it.

A number of these actors and observers told us it would be a good idea to impose an across the board per-bag fee for every type of retail store in the city; but not instead of the upcoming April 28 ban, but rather in addition to it.

The argument from many in the city is that these 13 largest supermarkets and pharmacies (especially the supermarkets) account for a much higher percentage of plastic carrier bag use because of the nature and volume of the businesses. As a result, they believe by starting with the largest supermarkets and pharmacies, then moving on perhaps later to other retail classes of trade, they will see an immediate decrease in litter for example, from the bigger-store plastic bag ban.

SoCal grocers not as vocal on the issue...yet

We haven't heard similar support for local or a statewide plastic carrier bag fee law from grocers in Southern California, although since numerous cities in that region have bag-ban laws set to be voted on by city councils soon, they may feel the same way as their Northern California cousins do.

Additionally, Safeway is a major supermarket industry player in Southern California (as in northern) where it operates the Vons' chain. Therefore, if California's leading grocery chain were to support the statewide bag-fee legislation in committee that would go along way to not only gaining similar support from other grocery chains but from the California Grocers Association as well.

Further, as mentioned early in this piece, Los Angeles County is working on passing a law that would impose a charge on all single-use carrier bags used by supermarkets in that highly populated Southern California county.

This means grocery chains like Vons, Ralphs and many others which have stores in Los Angeles County and in numerous other counties in the region, will be able to offer plastic bags in their stores outside Los Angeles County but not in those stores in the country. Piecemeal laws like this can cause havoc for retailers.

In addition, if many of the cities pass their own pending plastic grocery bag bans, that means the region's grocers will end up with a further piecemeal system--some stores in some counties and cities offering plastic bags, while those in the cities with the bans won't be able to.

Most of Southern California's supermarket chain and independent retail companies are likely to come to the same conclusion the grocers at yesterday morning's Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce meeting have we think: that a uniform, statewide single-use plastic carrier bag fee (of say 25 cents a bag) might be far better than either county-by-county or city-by-city outright bans or piecemeal bag fees.

Whole Foods Market to stop using plastic grocery bags on Earth Day

One major event that's going to put single-use plastic carrier bags in general, and the legislation to be voted on in committee on Monday specifically, in the spotlight in California is that on April 22, Earth Day, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, Inc. will voluntarily stop using single-use plastic carrier bags in all of its stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

Whole Foods' has numerous stores, and is building many more, in California. The supernatural grocer also garners lots of publicity in general in the California media, and will garner even more in the days leading up to the Earth Day self-imposed plastic bag ban.

All of Whole Foods' California stores (and most of those throughout the U.S.) are planning major events on Earth Day, including celebrating the retailer's voluntary plastic bag ban. Whole Foods stores will be giving away free reusable shopping tote bags, selling others at discount and holding major in-store promotions celebrating the earth, environmentalism and sustainability.

No other grocery chains in California have yet to announce that they, like Whole Foods, plan to stop using the single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores.

We expect Earth Day (April 22) and the days leading up to the event and after, to be a watershed moment in terms of the single-use plastic carrier bag issue internationally, nationally in the U.S., and particularly in California if the Natural Resource Committee passes the plastic bag-fee legislation on Monday and sends it to the full California Assembly for a binding vote. Even if passed by the full State Assembly, such a bill would still have to be signed by the governor in order to become law.

Further, if the bill is killed in committee on Monday, that will increase and intensify the local county and city bag-ban legislation efforts in California, which is the focus at the local level rather then per-bag fee legislation.

This story is just beginning. We will be following closely, starting with bringing you the results of the Natural Resources Committee vote on Monday.

The issue is a global one. Single-use plastic carrier bag bans are happening all over the world. Earlier this year the world's largest country, China, banned every retail store in the nation from using the bags. Other Asian countries and numerous African nations are doing the same.

Additionally, the United Kingdom's Parliament is currently debating the enactment of either an outright bag ban or a per-bag charge in that nation. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already said he is in favor of passing either an outright ban or a per-bag fee scheme before the end of this year.

Ireland has already passed a nationwide law which puts a charge on every single-use plastic bag used by every retailer in that country. The law has been in effect for about two years. The country's government says plastic bag use has been reduced by nearly 90% since the law was passed.

The European Union is discussing a nationwide ban or bag-fee scheme as well. In addition, there is legislation pending in Australia on either a ban of per-bag fee, as there is elsewhere in the world. It's a global issue--and it's heating up.

If the California 25-cent per bag fee legislation does pass, it will have global influence. Not only is California the largest state in the U.S., but it has the world's fifth-largest gross domestic product, which makes its economy even bigger than those of a number of European nations.

The state also is a trend setter in the grocery industry. If the Golden State's grocers and grocery trade associations do support the bag fee legislation, that could open the door for grocers all over the U.S.--and elsewhere like the UK--to do the same. Stay tuned. We will be.

Green Retailing Memo: July Big Month For Plastic Bag Ban and Fee Legislation in the U.S.; Seattle, Los Angeles Other Cities Pass New Laws

The city of Seattle, Washington this week passed legislation that will impose a 20-cent per-bag fee on consumers who request single-use plastic carrier bags at the city's supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores.

The new law was passed by an overwhelming 6-1 vote by the Seattle City Council.

The new per-bag fee on single-use plastic carrier bags will go into effect in January, 2009.

In addition to passing the 20-cent plastic bag charge, the city council voted 7-0 to ban certain types of styrofoam food containers.

That new legislation will be implemented in two-parts: A ban on styrofoam food containers currently used at take-out restaurants will take effect in January, 2009, at the same time the bag fee at Seattle's supermarkets, drug and convenience stores is implemented.

Phase-two of the foam container ban eliminates the use by supermarkets and other food retailers of foam trays used for fresh, raw meats and seafood displayed for sale. It will go into effect in July, 2010. The Seattle City Council said it believed that would give food retailers enough time to find an alternative to the foam trays for meat and seafood merchandising.

The Seattle legislation imposing the 20-cent per-bag consumer fee on single-use plastic carrier bags at supermarkets, drug and convenience stores, combined with the ban on foam containers, is the most comprehensive legislation enacted at the same time we've observed to date in a U.S. city or county.

Retailers will still be permitted to use paper grocery sacks to packaged shoppers' purchases.

Bag ban and fee legislation picking up steam throughout U.S.

The Seattle plastic bag fee legislation also comes at a time when single-use plastic carrier bag ban and fee legislation is picking up steam in cities and counties throughout the U.S.

On July 1, the city of Manhattan Beach in Southern California enacted a total ban on the use of non-reusable plastic grocery bags for stores of all retail formats in the city.

Under the Manhattan Beach plastic grocery bag ban legislation, grocery stores, food vendors, pharmacies and city facilities have six months to phase out the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores in the city.; all other retail establishments have a year to do the same.

The Manhattan Beach single-use plastic carrier bag law is the first we've found in the U.S. that bans retailers of all formats--ranging from supermarkets, drug and convenience stores, to discounters and department stores-from using the free, single-use carrier bags.

On July 22, the Los Angeles City Council passed legislation banning the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in grocery and other retail stores in the city by 2010--but only if the California State Assembly fails to pass pending legislation that would would impose a 25-cent per single-use plastic carrier bag fee on shoppers who request the bags in a California supermarket.

The Los Angeles plastic bag ban was proposed by Councilman Ed Reyes, who called plastic bags "the graffiti of the L.A. River," (his way of describing plastic bag litter) which passes through his district.

The Los Angeles plastic bag ban law is designed to encourage California legislators to vote for a proposed California State Assembly Bill, AB 2058, (currently being debated in the Appropriations Committee) that if passed would place 25-cent per-bag fee on all single-use plastic bags requested by consumers in all California supermarkets. The consumers would pay the 25-cent per-bag fee at the point-of-sale.

Commenting on the legislation, Los Angeles City Councilman Alarcon says the city council would eventually pass a law regulating plastic bags. But for now, the council's vote is designed to persuade state lawmakers to impose a fee on the bags

"If they (state of California) don't do [a fee], then we do a ban," said Alarcon, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley. "So yes, at some point there would be an ordinance."

The city of Los Angeles estimates that Los Angeles consumers use 2.3 billion plastic bags each year. According to the state of California, only about 5% of plastic bags are recycled statewide.

In May, another Southern California city, the coastal community of Malibu, passed a law banning the use of single-use plastic carrier bags in the city known among other things as the home of numerous Hollywood celebrities.

The law applies to all retailers (just like the Manhattan Beach legislation), including grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies and city facilities. These Malibu retailers have about six months (from May) to comply with the plastic bag ban law, or face a fine of up to $1,000. Smaller vendors will have up to a year, as is the case with the Manhattan Beach law.

In Northern California, The San Francisco Bay Area city of Palo Alto, home to Stanford University, passed a law earlier this year that places a per-bag fee on each single-use plastic carrier bag requested by shoppers in the city's supermarkets and pharmacies.

Palo Alto is the third San Francisco Bay Area city to enact either outright bag ban legislation or a per-bag fee law.

In June of last year, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to enact a ban on the use of the single-use plastic grocery bags in supermarkets and drug stores. The San Francisco law applies to stores that do $2 million or more in annual sales. It allows the city's convenience stores, numerous corner groceries and all other format retailers to continue using the single-use plastic carrier bags.

Nearby Oakland last year also passed a bag ban similar to San Francisco's law. However, a plastics industry trade group chose to challenge Oakland's law in court. Earlier this year a court ruled in the trade group's favor, preventing Oakland from enacting the legislation. The Oakland City Council is considering whether and how to rewrite a single-use plastic carrier bag law that will hold up in court.

The plastics industry, through a couple trade organizations, has said it plans to challenge the Manhattan Beach and Malibu bag bans as it did Oakland's No trade groups have yet challenged the San Francisco plastic bag ban law, which has been in effect for over a year now.

A few other U.S. cities have passed either bag ban of fee legislation since last year. Many more are currently debating and considering such legislation.

With the cities described above enacting bag bans or fees all in the last few months, we're seeing increased emphasis being put on the issue throughout the U.S. This is especially the case in California because the proposed 25-cent per single-use plastic carrier bag legislation currently being debated in the State Assembly's Appropriations Committee is creating more attention to the issue in cities and counties throughout the state.

Global bag ban and fee legislation

The fact that counties like Australia, China, Ireland, and many nations in Asia and Africa have either banned the bags outright or imposed a fee on them also is serving to galvanize attention to the issue in the U.S.

Additionally, the issue is super hot in Europe, where the European Union is discussing a nationwide ban or fee scheme, and where individual nation's like the United Kingdom have said unless that country's retailers drastically reduce the number of single-use plastic carrier bags they use by the end of this year, it will pass legislation early next year either banning the bags or imposing a fee on them.

Numerous European cities in countries like France and Germany also have either inacted bag bans or fee laws.

Individual retailers in the UK like Marks & Spencer and a couple others have already announced plans to charge customers for the single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores. The UK's Co-operative Group grocery chain says it's in the process of eliminating the single-use plastic carrier bags and is testing 100% compostable carrier bags in some of its stores as a possible alternative.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. stopped offering single-use plastic carrier bags completely in April in all of its stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK.

We expect to see single-use plastic carrier bag ban and fee legislation continue to pick up in the U.S., as it is in Europe and elsewhere, for the rest of this year. It's becoming the primary environmental focus in terms of retail impact among scores of city councils and county governmental bodies throughout the U.S. It's at these local levels in the U.S. where we expect to see most of the new bag ban and fee legislation being implmented, rather than on a statewide basis.

Green Memo: Plastic Grocery Bag Bans

San Francisco, CA Grocers and Others Prepare for Upcoming Plastic Grocery Bag Ban

Grocers and others in San Francisco are preparing for November 20, when a new city ordinance passed in March banning the use of all plastic grocery bags in large retail food stores goes into affect in this "green" city by the Bay.

To the surprise of many in this politically-charged city, opposition to the legislation which was passed by a vote of 10-to-1 by the city's legislators, was minimal. Although the California Grocers Association, the state trade group for food retailers, opposed the ordinance, the city's leading supermarket chains, independent grocers and larger specialty store retailers, put up no organized opposition to speak of.

Rather, knowing the legislation was essentially a sure thing, the grocers asked for a year or so to phase-in the use of alternatives like reusable bags made from biodegradable materials and canvas shopping bags. The Board of Supervisors ended-up giving the grocers an eight-month "phase-in" period. Paper grocery bags made from recycled paper can still be used to bag customers' groceries in retail food stores of any size in San Francisco. In a year the law will automatically ban plastic bag use by large retail drug stores.

Retail food stores in San Francisco which must eliminate the use of plastic grocery bags in their stores on November 20 include Safeway, Lucky Stores, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and numerous independent grocery, natural foods and specialty markets.

Most all these retailers are currently selling reusable biodegradable bags and canvas shopping bags of various qualities and styles. Prices for the bags range as low as a dollar for the biodegradable-type bags to as high as $20 for an upscale canvas bag sold at Whole Foods. Safeway, Lucky, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and others are selling basic reusable canvas shopping bags for as low as $3.99 to $4.99 however.

The city's numerous department stores and boutiques also are getting into the act by selling various types and styles of reusable shopping bags in their stores. This is somewhat ironic since these format stores can and in most all cases still use plastic shopping bags. The stores are selling shopping bags made from canvas and other materials, ranging from the simple to the designer fabulous, including those made from reused and recycled materials.

Many observers in San Francisco predict the plastic grocery bag ban will create a fashion trend among grocery shoppers in this style-conscious and individualistic city. The use of reusable shopping bags already is big in San Francisco--and they say it will only get bigger and more interesting--beginning on November 20.

The impending plastic bag ban also is stimulating the local economy in this entrepreneurial city. For example, a story in today's San Francisco Chronicle reports local entrepreneurs are creating "eco-friendly" reusable shopping bags out of materials like used rice sacks, recycled juice packs, surplus military tents, unused car upholstery and ripped sail cloth.

San Francisco "eco-designer Kendra Stanley sewing her reusable shopping bags, which are made out of old raincoats. It's a new use for an old product.. It's hard to get much greener than that. (Courtesy SF Chronicle.)

Among these "green" entrepreneurs is "eco-designer" Kendra Stanley. Inspired by the plastic grocery bag ban, Ms. Stanley has created a line of reusable grocery bags made from repurposed rain jackets, reports theChronicle. Her line of grocery bags, City Bag Trade, recycles as much of the rain jacket as possible, including the zippers and pockets.

Ms. Stanley is selling the bags on her website. She told the Chronicle she has thus far given away about 50 of the "green" grocery bags as a way to create awareness of her line and to encourage responsible environmental behavior. She calls her strategy 'guerrilla bagging,' a word-play on guerrilla marketing, and says "it's a way to get people to think about the overuse of plastic bags and their damage to the environment." On her website Ms. Stanley not only sells her bags but even offers to give consumers one for free if they'll send her an old raincoat which she can make a new bag from.

Four of San Francisco "eco designer" and entrepreneur Kendra Stanley's reusable shopping bags made from old raincoasts. (Courtesy SF Chronicle.)

San Francisco city Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who wrote the plastic bag ban legislation, says local entrepreneurs and artisans are approaching him with requests to create an "official" San Francisco reusable bag, according to today's Chronicle story. Mirkarimi says he's asked the San Francisco Arts Commission and local arts-advocacy groups to look into offering grants for local artisans who want to create "eco-friendly" shopping bags.

San Francisco sources tell us entrepreneurs have approached Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, along with local independent natural foods stores like Rainbow Grocery and others, offering to produce lines of reusable grocery bags made out of 100% post consumer recycled, repurposed, fair trade and other environmentally sustainable materials for these grocers. These would be locally-produced bags, made "by San Franciscans for San Franciscans" as one entrepreneur we talked to described the scheme.

Virtually all the grocers mentioned in our piece currently are selling reusable grocery bags in their stores. However, none are "San Francisco made." This "buy local" angle would fit well with the "eco-friendly" nature of such bags we believe. The "buy local" and green movements generally go hand-in-hand in the minds of most sustainable-oriented consumers.

With its plastic bag ban going into effect in a little over a week, San Francisco is taking a new California law which was implemented in September, to the "next level." The statewide law requires all grocery retailers in the state with stores over 10,000 square-feet to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores and to offer reusable grocery bags for sale in-store. The law was supported by the California Grocers Association and has been successfully implemented by the state's grocers over the last two months. The grocer's association hopes the law will stave off outright plastic bag bans like San Francisco's elsewhere in the state.

Conventional wisdom has it that laws like San Francisco's are "anti business," and rather than creating commerce stifle it. However, it seems the San Francisco ordinance is doing the opposite, creating a beehive of activity among entrepreneurs as well a getting the support of the majority of the city's grocers.

The plastic grocery bag industry isn't happy about the new law going into effect on November 20, and opposed the ordinance when it was voted on in late March. However, we're assured the paper grocery bag makers are pleased.

Add further to that pleased list the numerous local entrepreneurs looking to create and sell reusable grocery bags, as well as the city's grocers, who not only won't need to have the plastic bag recycling bins in their San Francisco stores, but also will be able to eliminate the need to pay a recycling company to pick the plastic bags up each week. The ordinance also should reduce the grocer's paper bag costs, since shoppers will be using reusable bags much more often. And, in politically liberal and "green" San Francisco, the grocers will garner good will from shoppers for not using plastic bags and offering reusables for sale.

The plastic bag ban will greatly reduce the number of plastic bags San Francisco sends to its landfill each year. The city's Department of the Environment estimates 181 million plastic grocery bags are currently distributed by the city's retail food stores each year. Most of these bags go to the city's landfill rather than being recycled do to a variety of reasons, the city says. The ban will eliminate these bags from the landfill.

San Francisco, like other high-density urban regions, is running out of landfill space. Open land is virtually unavailable in San Francisco for a new landfill. The city already hauls its garbage outside the city to landfill space it owns miles away. This practice angers residents and officials of the cities near the landfill. They oppose allowing San Francisco to obtain any additional space, saying San Francisco shouldn't "export" its garbage to their neighborhoods.

San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to ban plastic bag use by large retail food stores. Other U.S cities are considering similar bans. The nearby Bay Area cities of Berkeley and Albany have municipal ordinances working their way through the legislative process. The Chicago Board of Alderman also is considering a plastic bag ban in their city. Laws to ban plastic grocery bags are being discussed in places as diverse as New York City and Louisville, Kentucky.

Local governments, the retail food industry, the plastic bag industry, consumers and other interested parties will be watching what happens in San Francisco beginning on November 20.

We're likely to see numerous U.S. cities and states propose plastic bag ban legislation in 2008. With the marketplace moving faster than governments in the environmental and sustainable arena, we're also seeing many grocers offer, promote and even give away free reusable bags in their stores.

As more and more consumers bring their own reusable grocery bags to the store we'll see the eventual disappearance of the traditional plastic grocery bag we believe. In its place will come biodegradable bags made from natural substances like corn and soybeans. These bags already are on the market--and getting more widespread use by grocers each week.

We'll also see--like in Europe--the common use of reusable grocery bags made from canvas and other materials become excepted in the U.S. Celebrities are making it hip to use "green" reusable shopping bags, and its only a matter of time before designer grocery bags are as popular in the U.S. as woman's designer handbags are. In fact, we're waiting for Coach, Gucci and a few others to debut their lines of designer shopping bags. When that happens, you'll know the trend is becoming the norm. It's coming sooner than we all think, by the way.

Green Retailing Memo: Judge Slaps Injunction on Oakland, California Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Ban; Ruling Could Have Implications Elsewhere

Alameda County (where the city of Oakland is located) Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch has issued a ruling placing an injunction on the single-use plastic carrier bag ban the Oakland City Council passed into law last year.

Oakland's plastic grocery bag law would ban food and grocery retailers with stores that do over $1 million a year in sales from offering the single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores. The grocers would still be able to offer paper grocery sacks to shoppers for no charge however.

A single-use plastic carrier bag trade association called The Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling sued the city of Oakland last summer after the bag ban was passed by the lawmakers.

The trade group argued in the lawsuit that single-use paper grocery bags take more energy to produce and use more landfill space when disposed of than single-use plastic carrier bags. They further argued the city of Oakland should have conducted an environmental impact review (EIR) comparing the energy inputs required to produce the paper grocery sacks and the plastic bags, as well as studying the landfill disposal issue as part of that EIR before passing the single-use plastic carrier bag ban law.

California has a statewide law which requires supermarkets to put single-use plastic carrier bag recycling bins in their stores and have the bags picked up regularly in-store by a certified recycling company, as well as requiring the retailers to sell reusable shopping bags in those stores.

Although the single-use plastic carrier bag ban law was past last year, Oakland has yet to implement it because of the lawsuit. Judge Roesch's ruling states: "The court...finds that substantial evidence in the record supports at least a fair argument that single-use paper bags are more damaging than single-use plastic bags."

John Russo, Oakland's City Attorney, says he will ask the city council this week if it wants to contest the court's ruling or do an environmental review of the ban, which he says will cost the city about $100,000 to conduct.

In response to Judge Roesch's ruling in favor of the Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling's lawsuit, Keith Cristman, the senior director of the American Chemistry Council's plastics division which opposes the Oakland law, said in a statement that "banning plastic bags would dramatically increase energy use, double greenhouse gas emissions and increase waste. Recycling plastic bags is the right approach and makes plastic bags the environmentally responsible choice."

Christman is basing his arguments above on the coalition's argument that banning the single-use plastic carrier bags in the Oakland food and grocery stores with $1 million or more in annual sales would lead to a significant increase in the use of paper grocery bags.

There is some evidence in nearby San Francisco for the paper bag increase in use argument. That city passed a similar plastic bag ban before Oakland passed its law last year. The San Francisco law, which was implemented last year, banned grocery chains and independents that operate stores over 10,000 square feet in size from offering single-use plastic carrier bags in those stores. The law allows the retailers' to continue to offer free paper grocery bags to shoppers.

Numerous grocers in San Francisco, such as Safeway Stores, Inc., regional chain Mollie Stone's and others, have reported paper bag use in their stores increasing dramatically since the plastic grocery bag ban law went into effect last year.

However, they also have reported a significant increase in shoppers bringing their own reusable shopping bags to the stores, along with an increase in the number of reusable bags their stores are selling since the plastic grocery bag ban went into effect.

Further, the City of San Francisco argues, and many agree, that because the city's system of curbside recycling for paper grocery bags is so simple and is available in every neighborhood in the city, over 70% of those single-use paper grocery bags are being recycled, unlike plastic grocery bags which they say end-up either in the city's landfill or littered on the streets.

Many food and grocery retailers in San Francisco also give shoppers a five cent credit for every paper grocery bag they return to the stores. Whole Foods Market stores in the city give customers a 10 cent per-bag credit for each returned paper grocery sack.

The Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling didn't oppose San Francisco's ban in court for some reason. Rather, it chose to file a lawsuit against the city of Oakland's plastic bag ban law instead. The two city's laws are nearly identical expect San Francisco's bases the ban on the square footage of a grocery store (the 10,000 square feet size), while Oakland's law is based on annual store sales (the $1 million number.)

If the city of Oakland doesn't appeal the court's ruling and the injunction stays, that means the city's single-use plastic carrier bag law can't be implemented. As such, it will be interesting to see what decision the city council gives City Attorney John Russo this week.

If the coalition does win the case on appeal (if Oakland appeals), it could set a nationwide precedent regarding municipal plastic bag bans in the U.S.

We've located at least 30 cities in the U.S. that currently have proposals to ban the use of the single-use plastic carrier bags in supermarkets in their city's and towns. It's likely if the Oakland injunction holds, the coalition and other industry groups will use it as the basis of fighting similar proposed legislation in cities and counties throughout the U.S.

If the Oakland City Council decides to conduct the environmental review, the second option Russo has presented to the legislative body this week, it can use the results (if favorable to the bag ban law) in its appeal.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo will continue to follow this story for our readers.

Grocery Retailing & Legislation Memo: AB 2058, the Plastic Bag-Reduction and Potential 15 Cent Bag-Fee Bill Passes California Assembly Committee Vote

One of the two single-use plastic carrier bag bills, AB 2058 debated and voted on by the California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee last Tuesday, passed in the committee with five -to- three member-vote and now will go to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for debate and possible markup as a bill in which the full Assembly would then vote on.

If eventually passed, AB 2058 would require all supermarket and drug retailers in California to charge consumers 15 cents per single-use plastic carrier bag requested unless the state's retailers meet a series of plastic bag reduction benchmarks or goals. These benchmarks require the retailers to meet a 35% reduction rate in plastic bag use by July 2011, followed by a 70% reduction by July 2013. If either goal isn't met within those time frames, the 15 cent per single-use plastic carrier bag customer fee would go into effect.

The legislation's author is Assemblyman Lloyd Levine from Southern California. Levine was the author of legislation which was enacted last July in California requiring supermarket and drug retailers operating larger stores to place single-use plastic carrier bag recycling bins in those stores. The legislation also made mandatory the offering for sale of reusable shopping bags in the stores.

A second bill, which the Natural Resource Committee debated but didn't put to a vote on Tuesday would levy a 25 cent per single-use plastic carrier bag fee on shoppers who request it at larger supermarkets and drug stores in California. There are no reduction goals in that bill. Rather the 25 cent bag-fee would be mandatory.

That bill remains in the committee where it either will be further debated soon or left sitting while AB 2058 goes through discussion, debate and an eventual vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. [Read more about that bill and related issues here.]

All proposed legislative bills in California, and most other states in the U.S. as well as at the federal government level, go to the Appropriations Committee after being passed by a respective committee like Natural Resources. It's the Appropriations Committee that's charged with appropriating any and all monies for legislation. Without the committee doing so, a bill will die in committee.

The next step for the plastic bag reduction/15 cent bag-fee bill, AB 2058, is for it to get what's called its first policy committee hearing in the Appropriations Committee. That's expected to happen soon.

A number of groups are supporting AB 2058 and are launching a public relations and grass roots campaign designed to get the Appropriation's Committee to support and vote the bill out to the full California State Assembly for a vote.

Leading the charge is a non-profit environmental group called Californian's Against Waste. Other signed-on supporters include the City and County of San Francisco, The Easy Bay Area Municipal Utilities District, the Marin County Board of Supervisors, the Northern California Recycling Association, and the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency.

Since the bill just passed the Natural Resource Committee, the California Grocers Association which represents California's chain and independent food and grocery retailers, hasn't taken a position on AB 2058 as of yet.

Additionally, because the bill just passed in the committee, it's still a bit early for the Golden State's supermarket retailers to start voicing either opposition or support for AB 2058.

However, as we reported in this piece last week, it's far from a sure thing that all or even the majority of the state's grocery chains and independents will oppose the law. One reason this is the case is that the grocers' would likely prefer AB 2058 to the 25 cent per plastic bag legislation which remains in the Natural Resource Committee and can be voted on any time the chairman of the committee puts the legislation up for a committee vote.

Another reason is that the grocers are well aware of the numerous proposed outright single-use plastic carrier bag-bans being debated by local governments throughout the state. Their are currently at least 30 California cities proposing such bans. San Francisco already has a plastic bag ban as law and Oakland has passed a similar law which is currently in court being fought by a plastic carrier bag trade association.

The Bay Area city of Palo Alto is set to enact a single-use plastic carrier bag fee law for that city later this week. Other California cities not considering bag-bans are considering bag-fee laws like Palo Alto's.

Therefore, the California Grocers Association (CGA) may decide to support AB 2058. The group's decision as to whether to support or oppose the bill will be based on what the majority of its chain and independent grocer-members decide.

CGA supported the previous legislation by Lloyd Levine, AB 2058's author, which requires the grocers in the state to place the plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores and sell the reusable shopping bags, the latter which most of the grocers already did before the law was passed and enacted last year.

However, the benchmarks--35% by 2011 and 70% by 2013--might be a little steep in the CGA's--and grocers'--opinion. Therefore, we believe the grocers might support AB 2058 if they can get two things changed: a reduction in the percentages the grocers' would be required to achieve, along with an extension of the 2011 and 2013 dates perhaps.

If some sort of compromise can be achieved in these two areas--for example, hypothetically speaking, say a 25% reduction by 2011 and a 60% reduction by 2013--we believe the grocer's association and the majority of the states supermarket chains and independents might support an amended AB 2058 bill. That's just our analysis though, and we will have to wait and see the result as the bill progresses through the Appropriations Committee.

There remains a long road for AB 2058 to become law. First, it has to pass the Appropriations Committee. From there it would then go to the full California State Assembly for an up or down vote by the members.

Should AB 2058 pass the full assembly, it then has to go to the California State Senate and begin the committee debate and vote process in that body. If the bill--which gets another name and number in the state senate (SB #) passes the senate committees' and then the full body, it still must be signed by the Governor in order to become law. The Governor has the power to kill the bill with a mere veto.

AB 2058 also can be amended during this entire journey through first the California State Assembly and then the state senate. Depending on the severity and economic backing of the opposition to the plastic bag-reduction and fee bill, AB 2058 could end up very much different than the original bill. On the other hand, if the opposition isn't stiff and well-funded, the bill could eventually emerge with only minor changes.

These compromises go all the way to the end, which includes any changes the Governor might want to make in order to sign a bill such as AB 2058.

Like the old saying goes: Laws are like sausages, it's better not seeing them being made. However, just like in sausage-making, the end result of any legislation that passes can either leave a fairly good taste in the majority of citizens' mouths, or just taste plain old horrible to everybody. Such is the art and process of lawmaking.

Green Memo: Innovative 'Bags Of Change' Uses Market-Based Loyalty Marketing Scheme to Encourage Green and Ethical Shopping Behavior

The Back-Story: Plastic Bag bans and legislation, reusable shopping bags, ethical retailing and ethical consumerism.

As we've discussed here often, the international movement to ban, tax and legislate against plastic grocery bag use at retail is blazing full steam ahead. The biggest news on the plastic bag ban front comes most recently from China. The world's most-populous country announced just last month it will ban the giving away by all retail stores of free, thin-plastic shopping bags later this year, shortly before the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which are being held in China in August.

China's ban follows similar bans all over the world. In the U.S., the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California have banned retail food stores over a certain square footage from using plastic grocery bags. (The San Francisco ban is in effect. The Oakland ban is currently being challenged in court.) Other cities and states throughout the U.S. are considering similar bans. States like California, New York and New Jersey have past laws which require supermarkets to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores and to sell reusable shopping tote bags in-store.

Many countries in Africa have banned the use of plastic shopping bags. A potential ban also is being discussed in the United Kingdom and in India, the second most-populous country in the world. In Australia and Canada, local governments have either banned plastic bags outright, are in the process of doing so, or are considering either taxing the bags' use, like Ireland is doing, or similar legislation.

Even food retailers are getting in on the banning (self-banning) of plastic grocery bags, which seldom get recycled and more often than not end-up being tossed into landfills, where they take decades to degrade. Whole Foods Market, Inc. announced recently it will stop using non-biodegradable plastic bags at all its stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK in April of this year, on Earth Day. Other retailers like German grocer Aldi charge customers extra if they want their purchases packaged in plastic bags in its UK and U.S. stores.

Trader Joe's, the U.S. specialty grocer owned by Aldi, doesn't offer plastic bags at all in its nearly 300 U.S. stores, and gives customers a discount for every reusable bag they use instead of having their groceries packaged in one of TJ's paper grocery bags. Most Trader Joe's stores have never offered plastic bags as an option. The retailer also was one of the first to sell reusable canvas bags and offer shoppers a discount for bringing them with them to shop.

Trader Joe's is today far from alone in offering incentives to shoppers for using reusable bags. This is a growing trend throughout the world. Just five years ago, it was difficult to find more than a handful of supermarkets that gave shoppers a discount if they brought their own bags (BYOB) to the store. Today, grocers across the board, from big-box discount stores, to upscale lifestyle food retailers, offer discounts of five -to- 10 cents per bag for BYOB and sell a variety of reusable shopping bags in their stores.

A Big Idea: Bags of Change. It's more than an anti-plastic bag approach. It's a pro-reusable bag, carrot without the stick, market-based incentive approach, with a loyalty marketing basis.

It's with reusable shopping bags that British company Bags of Change is creating change in the UK. And its using market-based methods to do so. The company has created a loyalty scheme in which shoppers can get a discount in over 50 stores (and growing) simply by using their organic hemp-cotton or latex tote bags rather than excepting a paper or plastic bag from the store for their purchases.

Further, as part of the loyalty program, shoppers also get extra discounts on locally-produced, organic and Fairtrade goods in the paticipating stores when they shop using one of Bags of Change's' reusable shopping tote bags.

Instead of focusing on sticks--laws, bans, taxes and the like--Bags of Change is taking a decidedly market-oriented approach by offering carrots in the form of discounts on goods at participating stores.

The company's goal is to get more people to use reusable bags regardless of whether or not plastic bags are legal, illegal, banned or not banned. Secondly, the green bag company wants to promote organic, local and Fairtrade shopping, along with the eco-friendly bags. As a result, their program is designed to reward and encourage ethical shopping behavior by offering economic incentives and appealing to UK shoppers' pocketbooks in addition to appealing to their hearts and minds.

Bags of Change, which was founded by school teacher Faith Simpson and researcher Dr. Hugh Willbourn, recently won the "Best Green Company" award in the 2007 Green England Green Awards, a major environmental competition designed to reward the "greenest" companies in the UK.

The loyalty scheme process is simple. Bags of change provides the buyers of its bags with a list of participating stores. The list is constantly updated on their website. Additionally, participating stores post signs in-store indicating they are part of the program. Shoppers just show the store clerk the tote bag to get their discount. It's a simple yet powerful market-based program. The company says its signing up more stores each week.

For the stores, the Bags of Change program provides them with a new group of shoppers who might not otherwise ever set foot in their stores. It's also a select group of shoppers, who by their very participation in the Bags of Change program have indicated a commitment to green and ethical shopping and retailers. These retailers benefit by associating with the loyalty program since in addition to the new business, they also get to position themselves as ethical retailers.

The Future Story: More market-based programs like Bags of Change, along with more retailer-based incentives, are needed to ensure proactive use of reusable shopping bags by shoppers.

One of the major problems with focusing on the plastic bag issue from only a legislative standpoint is that it does nothing to encourage positive behavior like convincing shoppers to use reusable shopping bags rather than paper bags, which remain an alternative in those places where plastic bags are being eliminated. Programs like Bags of Change are addressing that aspect using a positive, market-based approach.

We see food retailers creating similar programs. For example, instead of just giving customers five cents for every reusable bag they use, perhaps grocers who use store loyalty cards could offer a program where they give customers a credit for every reusable grocery bag they use instead of taking a paper or plastic store bag, in addition to the five or so cents per bag discount. When shoppers reach 25 or 50 credits, for example, they would get 5% off their total grocery order for that one time. Then they get to start banking the credits once again for next time. There are many similar, creative schemes that can be developed to encourage increased use of reusable shopping bags.

In other words, we believe market-based incentives are needed, along with laws, to ensure that over time the use of reusable shopping bags becomes the norm, rather than just a behavior practiced by a minority of "green" or ethical shoppers.

We like Bags of Change's approach in the UK, and look forward to seeing similar programs pop-up all over the world--along with innovative programs from retailers like the one we offered above, designed to eventually make shopper use of reusable shopping bags the norm rather than the exception. It's social, market-based marketing that's good for people, good for the earth, and good for the economic bottom-line as well.

Green Retailing Memo: Sainsbury's Rejects UK Bag-Fee Scheme; CEO Says Will Use A Customer 'Carrot' Instead of the 'Stick'

The combination of proposed legislation in the United Kingdom which would either levy a fee on each single-use plastic carrier bag a customer requests in a supermarket or ban the bags outright, along with a campaign called "Ban the (plastic) Bags," launched in February by London's Daily Mirror newspaper, has dramatically increased the plastic grocery bag use issue in the nation's supermarket and related retail industries, as well as among politicians and consumers.

British Chancellor Alistair Darling, who has the support of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, recently outlined a plan to pass legislation which would place a per-bag charge on the single-use plastic carrier bags unless the nation's retailers (especially supermarkets) take meaningful steps to reduce the bags' use.

In response, Sainsbury's CEO Justin King said yesterday: "Sainsbury's does not believe that charging for single-use bags is the only answer or that it is the most likely way to achieve lasting benefit for the environment."

"forcing customers to make a decision they don't fully understand is not the best way to achieve sustained behavior change," King added in a statement. "This (behavioral change) requires a series of actions to help customers to reduce, reuse and recycle."

Kings says beginning this weekend, Sainsbury's will test number of new initiatives and programs designed to determine what engages and helps people to reduce the number of single-use plastic carrier bags they use.

"Since last April, we (Sainsbury's) believe we've given away more free "bags for life" (inexpensive reusable carrier bags) than any other retailer," King says. "We now need to help customers remember to re-use them to make a difference on this issue and achieve a 50% reduction in disposable bag use."

Nearly all of the UK's leading supermarket chains--Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op among them--have pledged to reduce the number of single-use plastic carrier bags they use in their stores by 25% by the end of this year, over the amount the respective chain's used last year.

King has now set the single-use plastic carrier bag reduction goal for Sainsbury's to 50% by this time next year.

The primary "carrot" or rewarding mechanism Sainbury's plans to use in its campaign to reduce the use of the thin, single-use plastic carrier bags in its stores is to begin giving customers extra reward points for using their own reusable shopping bags in the stores.

The grocery chain will give shoppers 1-point on their reward cards for every reusable shopping bag used at the checkouts, including single-use plastic carrier bags from any retail store. In other words, bring your-own bag of any kind and get a reward point.

A survey of Sainsbury's shoppers by the retailer found that 73% of those surveyed wanted an economic reward for using their own reusable shopping bags in the stores, according to King. The reward points program will begin in June.

King says Sainsbury's also will hold store parking lot campaigns in which employees will hand out free refrigerator magnets and car stickers that remind shoppers to bring their own grocery bags to the store.

This isn't an original idea. Numerous supermarket chains in the U.S. already have a similar reward card scheme for customers who bring their own bags to the store, as does Tesco, the UK's leading retailer.

King also said Sainsbury's will soon begin using single-use plastic carrier bags made from 50% recycled content. The grocery chain's single-use plastic carrier bags currently in use are made from 33% recycled content.

Sainsbury's plans to monitor the progress of its reward card points scheme. King says as the chain learns what motivates shoppers more to reduce their desire for the plastic bags it plans on initiating other reward-based programs if needed.

Meanwhile, as we reported some time ago, Marks & Spencer, which is a food, grocery, soft goods and general merchandise retailer in the UK, is thus far the first and only grocery retailer in the nation to announce it will voluntarily charge customers a fee for each single-use plastic carrier bag they request. That fee will be about 10 cents per bag.

However, since Ireland has had a per single-use plastic carrier bag fee law in place since 2002, every UK supermarket chain with stores in Ireland must charge for the bags by law.

Meanwhile, not one of the UK's leading grocery chains--not even the "super green" Co-op--has said they will stop using single-use plastic carrier bags completely, like Austin, Texas USA-based Whole Foods Market will do in all its stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom on April 22, Earth Day.

Whole Foods currently has just one store in the UK, a huge 75,000 square foot natural foods' superstore in London. However, the retailer is in the process of scouting for numerous locations in the nation to open more stores.

Ironically, come April 22, the only supermarket in the UK then that will not offer single-use plastic carrier bags at all will be a branch of a United States-based grocery chain--Whole Foods Market.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Analysis

With all due respect to Sainsbury's CEO Justin King, he's wrong that putting a per-bag fee on single-use plastic carrier bags doesn't change consumer or shopper behavior. There's plenty of empirical evidence--not to mention common intuitive sense--suggesting it does just that.

For example, as we reported here yesterday, Ireland passed a per-bag fee law in 2002. The government now reports single-use plastic carrier bag use has decreased by a whopping 94% since that law was passed.

A similar law in the island nation of Taiwan has achieved reduction results much the same as the Irish example.

Even absent this empirical evidence, don't we all believe in the main if a shopper is offered the choice of lets say three free paper grocery bags for their grocery order at the checkout, versus the choice of paying 10 or 15 cents each for three or four single-use plastic carrier bags to package the same grocery order, said customer will most likely on average say "paper please?"

We aren't criticizing King and Sainsbury's for its actions. Not at all. Nor are we saying the retailer's program can't achieve some results. Rather, we are merely stating facts in terms of behavior change on the issue, and offering empirical and inductive evidence for such change.

Further, whether we agree with the practice or not, the fact is laws that eliminate the use of the plastic carrier bags in retail stores most certainly change behavior fast.

For example, last year the city of San Francisco, California banned the use of the bags in grocery stores over 10,000 square feet in size.

There are about 30 supermarkets of this size in the city of about 800,000. The result: overnight there was a behavioral change since customers shopping those stores will no longer have the choice of plastic. Rather, it's either free paper grocery bags or bring their own reusable bags, which should be the ultimate goal of any scheme in our analysis.

Unfortunately perhaps for them, San Francisco's hundreds of grocery and convenience-oriented stores under 10,000 square feet in size haven't seen any increase in sales from consumers leaving the supermarkets over not being able to get plastic bags at the larger stores.

Our point is not to either advocate outright bans or bag-fees. There can be unintended consequences of even those schemes, such as a dramatic increase in the use of paper grocery bags which is occurring in San Francisco since the single-use bag ban was enacted last year.

However, although paper grocery bags actually require more energy inputs to produce than the plastic bags, and an increase in their use means cutting down more trees for the paper, they also are much easier to recycle. For example, nearly every city in the U.S. has household curbside recycling programs for paper grocery bags--but few if any take the single-use plastic grocery bags for recycling.

We hope Sainsbury's is able to achieve a 50% reduction in the number of single-use plastic carrier bags its stores use through its reward points program. However, we doubt it will, based on experience and data from with supermarket chains which have been doing similar schemes for sometime.

Further, the single-use plastic carrier bag issue is a serious one. The bags are littered all over the roadside by irresponsible individuals, are filling landfills and take decades to decompose once in them, and are clogging the Pacific Ocean with a plastic bag mass which currently is the size of the continental Unites States, and stretches from Hawaii to Japan.

Grocers are part of the problem, and therefore need to be part of the solution. Increasingly we think that solution is at least charging shoppers at the store for the plastic grocery bags. And, when done, it should be the law for all types and sizes of retail stores, not just supermarkets or grocery stores.

Of course, the main cause of the litter aspect of this issue are irresponsible individuals, who dispose of the single-use plastic carrier bags improperly. We think littering fines for this behavior should be tripled.

Lastly, but far from least, are the manufacturers of the plastic bags. The technology to make faster-decomposing (in landfills) and more-rapidly composting (compost pile) plastic carrier bags has been around for some years. However, the industry, with the exception of some entrepreneurial companies, has avoided it. Instead they've preferred to use the old technology because it's more profitable to do so rather than invest in the new technologies.

Further, rather than invest significantly in these new technologies and create a more rapidly-decomposing and faster-composting bag, the single-use plastic carrier bag industry's leading companies seem to have decided to spend that money fighting bag-bans and bag-fee legislation instead. The industry seems to have left grocers to fend for themselves on the issue.

We all know that in business, when your product no longer offers more benefits than it does negatives, it becomes obsolete. That's what has happened to the traditional single-use plastic carrier bag. As a result, the focus of the issue has become how to reduce the use--and the plastic bag industry isn't even a major player in the discussion.

Recent Related Pieces From Natural~Specialty Foods Memo:

>Green Memo: "Ireland Has Reduced the Use of Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags By 94 Percent With Bag-Fee Law; Has Exceeded EU Recycling Targets." [Click here to read.]

>Green Retailing Memo: "California State Assembly Committee to Vote On Plastic Bag-Fee Measure Monday; Many Grocers support Bag-Fee Legislation." [Click here to read.]

>Food & Grocery Legislation Memo: "California Assembly Natural Resources Committee to Consider Second Plastic Bag Bill Along With Original Today." [Click here to read.]

>Green Memo Feature: "Scientific Evidence From the Lands and From the Oceans Suggests it's Time to Solve the Plastic Waste Issue." [Click here to read.]