Had a little trip to Ikea this weekend and was pleasantly surprised by a little notice on their door. (Could they make that store just a little harder to get out of? It is like some bazaar Clock Work Orange experiment.) Any how, mid March Ikea will stop allowing people to take plastic bags for free. They will charge 5 cents each to take them home. They are also going to reduce the price of their reusable bags to 59 cents. The plan is for the plastic bags they do make available to be biodegradable. Their goal is to cut their bag use in half in a year.

The charging for bags is an approach I haven’t seen before. It actually forces the consumer to be responsible for the bag use. A business risk? Maybe but unlikely. (Where else can you remodel your whole house and get change back from a 20?) Some other stores have come up with creative ways to encourage less use but without penalty, without the risk, should you choose not to comply. Some will credit you 5 cents per bag brought from home. Trader Joe’s does the raffle thing. (In addition to using paper bags they do a bi-weekly raffle for 25$ worth of store goods for people who bring in their own bags- which I have yet to win. But I’m not bitter….Trader Smoe’s.) Whole Foods did its own plastic ban, taking the responsibility of plastic reduction on themselves, which…. is passed on in their prices. (Hence, their $40 apple. OK- slight exaggeration, but very slight.) Many stores are offering very affordable clothe bags- some as little as $1 a bag.

Then there is the legislative approach. Here in NYC Bloomberg just passed a bill about to go in effect that would require stores that give out plastic bags to take them back and be responsible for their recycling. Total onus on the store. Now this doesn’t actually encourage consumers to stop taking the bags but it will encourage stores to come up with ways to steer patrons away from plastics into reusables. Financial motivation always helps stores do the right thing. Cities in CA have opted for a complete bag ban.

To those of us who would like to see a fast drastic reduction in plastic bag use a ban seems like the way to go. But…there are arguments against it. First, many people hate the government getting more control over anything, for good or bad. The whole slippery slope thing. Second, sometimes a plastic bag does serve a purpose; a raw chicken should not be rubbing wings with your baby’s cheerios. Third, and the most common argument I hear, is that many people actually reuse the bags they get for garbage bags or pooper scoopers. If they don’t get them from the store, they will have to buy more plastic bags anyway, which means there isn’t a real reduction in plastic use. (Although I see the logic, the truth is it is human nature to be less wasteful with stuff we pay for- so not sure the number of bags purchased would really equal those used for free.) Don’t be fooled- the bags aren’t free. They are built into the price of products bought at the store. As petroleum prices go up, the price of those “free” bags will go up in the form of mark ups.

What would motivate you more- being penalized,rewarded or forced by law? Having to pay for each bag or getting paid for each bag you don’t use? Would a raffle make you remember to bring those bags? If a store gave out free totes, would you use them? Do you support a total bag ban? If you don’t carry green bags, why not? Do you not have them? Do you forget to bring them? Or do you think we are all just being swayed by the intense sex appeal of one Mr. Al Gore?

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