Whole Foods Plans to Ban the Plastic Bag

It would make sense that a store which has ridden the organic movement wave to a peak of commercial success would be making sustainability part of its culture, and Whole Foods Market has certainly done so in the past couple of years.

The store is far from perfect when it comes to certain ethical aspects or how they deal with companies in their supply chain, particularly small farmers, BUT, I can say that their move to ban plastic bags is undeniably wholesome. And might add, it’s about time.

Whole Foods Market is no longer offering plastic grocery bags at the checkouts in its two stores in Austin, Texas. The company says that the move in Austin, where the supermarket is headquartered, is the first step to ban plastic bags companywide by early next year.

Apparently plastic bag manufacturers are quite upset at the audacity of such an endeavor. The Progressive Bag Alliance, a non-profit association of plastic bag manufacturers promoting environmentally responsible plastic bag use, issued a statement saying “that any plan to replace plastic bags with paper bags will yield negative impacts on the environment.” Pardon?

I tried to find these jokers but their site seems to have disappeared. You can read their press release here where they ask Whole Foods to reconsider. Their argument is that plastic is better than paper. Um, reusable tote anyone? The whole play reminds me of a certain movie…what do y’all think?

Via EL