Walmart eliminating plastic bags in Colorado

Recently purchased groceries are transported in plastic bags are visible Feb. 27, 2020, in the parking lot of the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Martin Luther King Drive in Fayetteville. The city adopted a ban on single-use polystyrene foam containers and was considering a 10-cent fee on plastic bags that has been rendered unenforceable by recent state law.
(File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Recently purchased groceries are transported in plastic bags are visible Feb. 27, 2020, in the parking lot of the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Martin Luther King Drive in Fayetteville. The city adopted a ban on single-use polystyrene foam containers and was considering a 10-cent fee on plastic bags that has been rendered unenforceable by recent state law. (File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

Walmart Inc.'s stores in Colorado no longer provide shoppers with single-use plastic or paper bags and New York will make a similar shift later this month.

Three other states have already banned the bags, the company said.

Walmart spokeswoman Lauren Willis said that on Sunday, the company's Colorado stores stopped providing the bags at checkout or pickup, and only paper bags are used for deliveries.

"We are working hard to ensure a seamless and convenient shift to reusable bags for our customers and associates," Willis said. "Eliminating single-use bags is part of our commitment to achieve zero waste across our operations and ultimately shift gradually toward a circular economy built on advancing reuse, refill and recycling habits."

Colorado stores are now required to charge shoppers a 10 cent fee per bag for a paper bag or a single-use plastic bag, until the end of 2023.

Colorado lawmakers passed a law in 2021 that prohibits stores and retail food establishments from providing single-use plastic carryout bags to customers starting Jan. 1, 2024. Stores that operate only in Colorado and have three or fewer locations may continue to give shoppers single-use plastic carryout bags, according to Colorado's Department of Revenue.

The 2021 bill also bans the use of polystyrene foam, or Styrofoam, statewide starting on Jan. 1, 2024.

Businesses that fail to comply with the new rules can face fines of $500 for a second violation and $1,000 for third and subsequent violations.

The Bentonville-based retailer said in a news release that starting Jan. 18, its New York stores will stop providing single-use paper bags at checkout and pickup.

Deliveries will still use paper bags because of the state's ban on single-use plastic bags in most situations that was enacted in 2020. But customers can buy reusable bags for their deliveries, the company said.

Walmart has several types of reusable bags and containers for sale throughout stores and at checkout, the company said. Also, Walmart said it will use store signage and social media, as well as the Walmart app, to remind customers to bring reusable bags.

Jane Ewing, senior vice president of Walmart Sustainability, said that eliminating single-use bags in New York is part of the company's effort to reduce waste, and its customers "want to be engaged on this journey."

"We remain committed to making the sustainable choice the everyday choice," Ewing said.

Walmart has been working for several years to move to reusable bags.

Walmart's stores in Maine, New Jersey and Vermont eliminated single-use plastic and paper bags in June, as did the company's operations in Mexico and Canada.

The retailer also said in the release that it will stop providing bags in Connecticut this month.

Walmart said it started selling company-branded reusable bags in stores in October to give shoppers some options.

As part of its efforts to encourage customers to buy and use the reusable bags, Walmart said, it developed new bag designs, improved their placement in stores and adjusted checkout lines to accommodate the use of the bags.

Ditching single-use bags is part of Walmart's broader goal to achieve zero waste in its global operations by 2025, according to the company's online Sustainability Hub.

Walmart is taking a three-pronged approach to reach this goal. The first of these -- using less plastic -- includes not only finding alternatives to plastic shopping bags but also to all single-use products, and reducing or eliminating PVC plastic packaging with the products it sells.

The other strategies involve working with suppliers to encourage use of packaging that's 100% recyclable and to increase recycled content; and also to support system-wide improvements such as helping local governments prioritize plastics recycling infrastructure and to share best practices and successes with manufacturers.


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