Paying 5 cents for a Grocery Bag at Ikea July 16
If you had to pay 5 cents for a bag would you bring your own or carry your items bag-less instead?
If you shop at Ikea, you will now be paying for using a bag. I went this last weekend and was pleased to see their new policy of charging 5 cents per bag. (I chose to not buy any bags, bring things to the car in the cart, and find a stray bag in the car to bag them in).
The first time I went grocery shopping while studying abroad I was completely shocked to find out that I had to PAY FOR a plain plastic grocery bag. It is this way over most of eastern-Europe. Granted, their grocery bags were nicer than those we get in the U.S, but still, I couldn’t believe that they would charge you for this.
Then it dawned on me. It’s a good thing when businesses charge for bags. Why? Because fewer bags will be used resulting in less waste. Plastic bags are terrible for the environment. According to this article they take 1000 years to break down (and I can’t imagine all the chemicals that leach into the ground with them. Moreover, we end up paying for the cost of the bags in the products we buy.
While abroad I learned to carry an extra bag with me wherever I go. That way, I would never have to pay for bags. (Occasionally I would forget and cough up the pennies, but for the most part it became a habit to bring a bag with me.)
I hope other companies adopt this policy and start charging for bags. It would be slightly annoying at first, but in the long run we would all be better off.