At Stop & Shop, we believe that serving our customers also means doing our part to leave a happier, healthier world for generations to come. One of the many ways we’re doing this is by improving our bagging techniques and promoting the use of reusable bags among ourselves and our customers.
Did you know that eight million metric tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean each year? According to Conservation.org, plastic in the ocean will outweigh the ocean’s fish by 2050. Most plastic takes about 400 years to degrade in the ocean, which is why the pile-up is so extensive. By the time the plastic does degrade, the microplastic then has the potential to make its way to the food chain, further contaminating the sea.
An article by USA Today points out that technology intended to measure the amount of plankton in the North Atlantic ocean has been entangled by plastic nearly 700 times since 1957. The majority of these entanglements began in the late 1990s and have increased exponentially since the 2000s, illustrating the increase in plastic in recent decades.
Overwhelming reliance on plastics is responsible for a number of environmental problems like crowded landfills, groundwater contamination and ocean debris. We know that the environmental impact of plastics is something that our community cares about, so we continually work to reduce the impact of our plastics for a healthy impact on our communities and our planet.
In our efforts to be more kind to the world, we also want to empower you to do the same. That’s why as of August 2019, we eliminated the use of plastic bags in our Connecticut stores. We also encourage our customers to bring back their old plastic bags to be recycled by offering shoppers a free reusable shopping bag if they bring in one or more single-use plastic bags for recycling*.
At Stop & Shop, we are committed to being mindful of our company waste and are continuously looking to reduce it. In 2016, we reached a milestone of reducing 1 billion single-use bags over 5 years by using improved bagging techniques and promoting the use of reusable bags. Additionally, in 2018, we recycled more than 360 million pounds of material, including plastics and cardboard, diverting about 74% of our company’s waste from going to landfills. These programs illustrate how Stop & Shop is working to do our part to improve our environment for generations to come.
To learn more about Stop & Shop’s commitment to the communities we serve, visit https://stopandshop.com/community/care-for-the-environment/!
*The bag exchange program operated while supplies lasted in select stores. Limit 1 bag per visit.