American supermarket chain eliminates plastic bags

Another supermarket chain has decided to shelve single-use plastic bags: Whole Foods Market has announced that it will end the use of disposable plastic grocery bags at all of its stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. The company said it wants to be bag-free by Earth Day, on April 22, 2008.

“More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious food restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don’t break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides,” said co-president and chief operating officer A.C. Gallo.

“Together with our shoppers, our gift to the planet this Earth Day will be reducing our environmental impact as we estimate we will keep 100 million new plastic grocery bags out of our environment between Earth Day and the end of this year alone,” he continued.

According to Whole Foods, the company is the first U.S. supermarket to make the commitment to completely eliminate disposable plastic bags. The company sells a range of reusable bags, and said it would continue to offer recycled paper grocery bags.

Several retailers have taken aim at single-use plastic bags in recent months by introducing reusable options and junking disposable alternatives.