Short Pump (Richmond, VA) Kroger implementing super thick plastic bag fee

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storewanderer
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Short Pump (Richmond, VA) Kroger implementing super thick plastic bag fee

Post by storewanderer »

Short Pump Kroger appears to be a test store for banning thin plastic bags, instituted by Kroger (no local rules requiring this).

So Kroger Short Pump will be moving to the super thick plastic bags and charging a .10 fee for those bags calling them "reusable." Since VA has no specific bag specifications for what constitutes a "reusable bag" they could basically take any thick plastic bag, call it "reusable" and charge this fee. VA has a statewide bag law in place that allows cities/counties to collect a 5 cent thin plastic bag tax, but that tax is not required to be collected on any reusable bags. That tax is also not currently collected in Richmond. It is possible Kroger is playing around with this voluntary discontinuing thin plastic bags but "selling" the super thick reusable plastic bags for .10, to see if they can do this in VA and get out of having to remit a bag tax in places with said tax in place.

The press release regarding Short Pump says nothing about Kroger switching to paper bags, it explicitly states "reusable plastic bags" meaning the super thick CA-style bags.

Quite pathetic move there, Kroger is giving a real "F you" to both the customers and the environment with this move. At least if they copied Wegmans and switched to paper only bags... and to add insult Kroger implements a .10 fee on these super thick plastic bags which are cheaper to make than paper bags (vs. Wegmans .05 fee on paper bags)...

Kroger claims the "proceeds" from this will go to the Kroger Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation. I wonder how they define "proceeds" - is that before or after their wholesale bag cost?

Wegmans made it clear in their release that "ALL FEES COLLECTED" will be remitted to "local food banks" from their .05 fee. Not that I am in support of their move to charge a bag fee either, but certainly prefer their approach to what Kroger is doing.

Those super thick plastic bags should be outlawed, along with any local laws that prohibit thin bags. Let the stores figure out what to do but don't let them dispense a substitute item (super thick plastic bag) that people just use once most of the time that uses 6-10x more plastic.... talk about something that is terrible for the environment- those super thick plastic bags are the worst.
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Re: Short Pump (Richmond, VA) Kroger implementing super thick plastic bag fee

Post by jamcool »

You can just reuse them for other things.
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Re: Short Pump (Richmond, VA) Kroger implementing super thick plastic bag fee

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: October 7th, 2022, 11:21 pm You can just reuse them for other things.
Super thick trash bags (which accomplish the same thing as the thin ones did... but waste much more plastic...)...
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