Americans are bringing in their own shopping bags into stores to carry home their purchases. A trend that has been in Europe for ages is just now catching on in America.
I was in Ikea this Saturday and learned they no longer offer free shopping bags. If you want to take your purchases out in an Ikea shopping bag you will need to pay .5c each for the clear plastic or 59c for the big blue Ikea bag. “It’s to save the environment” said the cashier. That’s cool, but it would be nicer if they posted a sign informing you before-hand of their new policy and not after you’ve spent 3 hours in the store and 30 min on line to ring up a sale for stuff you really don’t need. Here is my suggestion…if you corporate heads at Ikea really cared about the environment then focus on making and selling furniture people don’t want to throw out within 6 months.
At Whole Foods in Princeton - I also noticed an increase in the number of families who were carrying their groceries out in environmentally-friendly totes instead of using the standard plastic and paper bags offered by the grocery store. Whole Foods offered free reusable bags… if you spent more than 100.00.
Hopefully this trend continues.
Remember to bring your own bag the next time you want to bring something home from the store.