News: Whole Foods Market to eliminate plastic bags!

Beginning on Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Whole Foods Market, based in Austin, Texas and with stores all across the country (including the recently purchased Wild Oats) will stop providing plastic bags as an option to bag purchases. According to the Whole Foods Market website: We’re going all out for reusable! “Paper or plastic?” is soon to be a question of the past at our stores. When you come to shop, bring any bags you have on hand. Really, any bag will do – old, new, paper, plastic, fabric, even backpacks or woven baskets! You’ll feel good about helping our environment and we’ll even give you a refund of at least 5 cents per bag. Better BagWe make it easy by offering a wide selection of reusable bags for sale at our stores — check out our “Better Bag” — only 99 cents and it’s made from recycled plastic bottles. Helping the environment in two ways! Why Eliminate Plastic? Thousands of reasons!

• It can take more than a thousand years for a disposable plastic bag to break down in a landfill.
• Most reusable bags can be used thousands of times and there are so many reusable bag options!
• Thousands of customers and Team Members support our Core Value to “care about our communities and the environment.”

So what about paper? We aren’t trying to settle the “paper vs. plastic” debate. We say “reuse!” instead. But when you don’t reuse, our 100% recycled (and recyclable) paper bags are the way to go. "For those customers who are concerned about what they are going to do with their dog waste, we are looking into carrying a biodegradable bag just for those shoppers," said Beth Mohan of Whole Foods. Read more!