Kroger Phasing Out Single-Use Plastic Bags In All Stores By 2025
Cincinnati, Ohio (CBS Local/CBS DFW) — The nation's largest grocery chain will be plastic-bag free at all of its nearly 2,800 stores by 2025.
Kroger Co., which orders about 6 billion bags each year, will begin phasing out their use immediately at its Seattle-based QFC grocery stores. It expects to be plastic-bag free at the chain next year.
The company operates more than 175 stores in Texas and more than 2,600 other stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia, serving almost 9 million people daily through two dozen different grocery chains.
According to Kroger, an estimated 100 billion single-use plastic bags are thrown away in the U.S. every year and less than five percent of those are recycled.
"We listen very closely to our customers and our communities, and we agree with their growing concerns," said Mike Donnelly, Kroger's chief operating officer. "This decision aligns with our Restock Kroger commitment to live our purpose through social impact."
There is a broader shift under way at major U.S. corporations to reduce waste. Disney, Starbucks, Marriott and McDonald's are getting rid of plastic straws. McDonald's said this year that it will use only recycled or other environmentally friendly materials for its soda cups, Happy Meal boxes and other packaging by 2025. Dunkin' Donuts is phasing out polystyrene foam cups by 2020. Ikea plans to eliminate single-use plastic products from its shelves by 2020.
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Kroger plans to eliminate plastic bags at stores by 2025.
The company, which owns a sprawling list of supermarkets including Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, and Ralphs, announced on Thursday that it will gradually transition to reusable bags at its nearly 2,800 locations.
QFC, a Seattle grocery chain owned by Kroger, will be the first of the stores to eliminate plastic bags. They'll be gone at QFC by 2019.
Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a release that Kroger was taking a "bold move that will better protect our planet." The company said it will consult shoppers and NGOs during the process.
Kroger has also been redesigning milk jugs to use 10% less plastic. It switched to the new container in about half of its dairy plants by the end of 2017, and will shift fully to the new containers soon.
Both are part of Kroger's broader effort to slash 90% of waste to landfills by 2020.
Other companies are changing their sustainability policies too as more countries and US cities and states clamp down on straws and plastics.
California voters approved a law banning single-use plastic bags in 2016, and the law went into effect last year. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a bill that would ban them in that state.
Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts have all recently promised to eliminate plastics and polystyrene. In July, Starbucks said it would get rid of plastic straws from all of its stores by 2020.
