QFC will stop putting your groceries in a single-use plastic bag
QFC says it will stop bagging your groceries in single-use plastic bags in 2019. Instead, the company says, look for a transition to reusable bags.
Will that help stop the flow of plastic bags into landfills and the environment?
Kroger Co. says it will. Kroger, the parent of Bellevue-based QFC, says this begins an effort to phase out single-use plastic bags in all of its two dozen grocery chains by 2025. It also owns Fred Meyer.
Kroger says it orders about 6 billion bags each year for nearly 3,000 stores in 35 states.
A QFC spokesman said you'll still see single-use bags for produce for now, but phasing out those will come later.
Seattle, Tacoma and other cities in the region already ban single-use plastic bags -- a ban in Edmonds has been in place since 2010.
In a statement, Kroger said the move is in response to customer concerns.
The company said this is part of an effort to divert 90 percent of its waste from landfills by 2020. That includes taking food that might have been thrown out and diverting it to community programs.
“More than 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. each year goes unconsumed, while one in eight people struggle with hunger," Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a news release. "That just doesn’t make sense.”
-
Gil Aegerter
Gil edits feature pieces and helps guide staff reporters through their stories. He previously served as interim digital director and online managing editor at KUOW. Before that he spent seven years with NBCNews.com, where he was variously a senior editor, editor-producer and features editor. He also worked 25 years as a newspaper editor in Anchorage, Alaska, San Diego, Wilmington, N.C., and Seattle. He also was a freelance researcher for NBC Olympics for the Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, with a degree in photojournalism.
More stories from Gil Aegerter »
