Across the United States, many shoppers are used to having plastic bags available for their groceries during checkout time. These bags are easy for customers to use and relatively inexpensive for stores to replace.
However, as the environment captures more attention, plastic shopping bags have come under fire in recent years. These bags are notoriously hard to recycle, yet prone to disintegrating into particles that hurt waterways and soil. Animals that accidentally consume these pieces can also suffer.
In light of this, there’ve been more calls to eliminate plastic bags altogether. While stores like Target and Walmart still carry them, Aldi is going a different route.
No more plastic bags at Aldi
Jason Hart, the CEO of Aldi, put out a news release announcing the change earlier this month. Hart maintains that doing away with plastic bags will spare the environment from being bogged down with nearly nine million pounds of plastic on an annual basis.
Going forward, Aldi customers will be able to either bring reusable bags with them while shopping or buy paper/cloth bags in-store. The company’s CEO stressed that both the environment and customers alike benefit from the elimination of plastic bags.
