By John Christian ShecklerMISHAWAKA, Ind. – Madeline MacMillan does not use paper – or plastic. Instead MacMillan, of South Bend, carries her groceries in the reusable bags that have been popping up in retailers nationwide over the last two years.
“I keep them in my car all the time, and I use them anytime I’m shopping for groceries,” said MacMillan, hoisting two reusable bags into her SUV in the parking lot of the Mishawaka SuperTarget.
MacMillan, who is in her mid-50s, does most of her grocery shopping at Target and Martin’s Supermarket, and she owns a reusable bag from each store. She likes using the bags because they are roomy and have handles that make them easy to carry.
But MacMillan is not an isolated case. In fact, she is just a small ripple in the tidal wave of reusability that has swept through nationwide retailers.
Target launched its line of reusable bags in its California stores in June 2007 after a state law demanded that all retail stores offer reusable bags, said Target spokesperson Anne Rogers. She said the bags received a “great response” in California, and swelling interest compelled Target to go nationwide with the bags in January 2008.
Now that the retailer has begun selling several varieties of reusable bags in all its stores, Michiana shoppers can decide how they measure up against the paper and plastic staples of shopping.
Most of Target’s reusable bags are made from a lightweight material comprised of recycled plastic, and all bear the retailer’s familiar bull’s-eye logo.
And it’s not just Target. Fellow mammoth retailer Wal-Mart released its first batch of recycled totes in October 2007. Similar bags have appeared in Macy’s department stores and Barnes & Noble Booksellers, both of which operate stores in Mishawaka’s busy Grape Road shopping district.
Why the recent adoption of recycled, reusable sacks? For most retailers, the trend is a byproduct of corporate efforts to better care for the environment. In fact, a 2008 Target Inc. report, outlining ways the company tries to be a good corporate citizen, listed Target’s development of reusable bags as a key facet of its eco-friendly campaign.
One company, reusablebags.com, was founded to reduce the consumption of plastic shopping bags. The online company sells reusable bags and was endorsed in the book, “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore’s warning on global climate change.
By offering reusable bags, retailers hope to reduce waste by slashing the number of plastic shopping bags piling up in landfills, and they think consumers want the same thing. “More and more in America, (there is) a focus on reducing waste,” said Macy’s corporate spokesperson Jim Sluzewski.
According to MacMillan, he’s right. She started using reusable bags because, she said, plastic bags are bad for the environment.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimated that only 5.2 percent of plastic bags in city waste steams were recycled in 2005. The rest end up in landfills where, according to the EPA, they can stick around for 1,000 years before they decompose. “Whoever invented those plastic bags didn’t do anyone a service,” said MacMillan.
But have reusable bags caught on as well as retailers had expected? Statistics on the young trend are still scarce, but the recycled bags have drawn the attention of the EPA. In September 2008, the EPA’s official blog reported that almost 75 percent of respondents to a July 2008 survey said they prefer reusable alternatives to paper or plastic bags.
However, the EPA intern who conducted the survey noted, “I must say that when I am in the grocery store, I have not once seen a person with a reusable bag.”
Locally, employees at the Mishawaka SuperTarget estimated that as many as four of every ten guests bring reusable totes through the checkout lanes. Brian Teall, who heads guest services at the Mishawaka store, said he has seen growing interest in the bags among Mishawaka shoppers, although he could not discuss actual sales figures.
A Wal-Mart representative also declined to talk about specific figures over the phone, explaining that since Wal-Mart is a publicly traded company, speculation about sales could influence trading.
Aside from eco-friendly appeal, Teall pointed to the stylishness of Target’s bull’s-eye-branded bags. “A stylish look is synonymous with Target,” he said. Sluzewski, meanwhile, said Macy’s will soon debut a new, “more fashionable” cotton bag.
Vonda Litwiller, a local mother of two, got a reusable Barnes & Noble tote as a gift from a co-worker and said she likes the design.
Litwiller, 42, has for years shopped at health food stores that require customers to bring their own bags. She said she looks for both function and style in reusable bags. “Generally they’re pretty funky now,” said Litwiller.
While retailers emphasize the stylishness of their totes, reusablebags.com has criticized retailer-branded bags. In an article on the shortcomings of cheap reusable bags, the Web site alleged that retailers hope to turn shoppers into “walking advertisements” by selling them low-quality bags emblazoned with their logos.
Ultimately, consumers will determine the success of the trend. “They’re the ones coming in and spending their hard-earned dollars,” said Teall.
Will the reusable bag engine continue to gain steam locally? MacMillan hopes so. “I wish everyone would use those darn bags,” she said.
