Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Columbus, Ohio - Earlier this month, the grocery store chain Giant Eagle, announced plans to remove single-use plastic bags from its nearly two dozen Columbus-area stores on Oct. 20 in "support of building greener communities”. The company plans to remove single-use plastic bags from all of its 200-plus stores in the coming months as part of a larger sustainability plan that involves other actions related to waste, carbon emissions, and sustainable products.
Single-use plastic shopping bags pose a costly burden on our environment and our economy, Ohio taxpayers paid more than $40 million dollars to remove plastic bags and garbage off Ohio’s interstates in the past decade. The negative impact of plastics does not stop there, an estimated 15 million tons of plastic enters the oceans every year, where it breaks down into microplastics and nanofibers that circulate all over the globe. As a result the average adult ingests a credit card’s worth of plastic every week through food, water, and air.
We applaud Giant Eagle for removing single-use plastic bags from their central-Ohio stores, as they noted more than 90% of plastic is not, and never will be recycled. The plastic industry is not slowing down, but corporations like Giant Eagle are signaling a shift in practices as they turn away from distributing single-use plastic bags. We hope this is the first step of many more to come from Giant Eagle. Additionally, we hope other grocery stores take notice as Giant Eagle steps forward as an environmental leader in central Ohio, aligning their values with their business practices.
Theodora Gregg, Athens resident and environmental activist, in anticipation of Giant Eagle’s plastic bag removal, stated: Even in the shadow of the Ohio legislation passing a preemption law hampering local governments from imposing a ban on single-use plastic bags, it is so heartening to see a corporation, like Giant Eagle, step forward and make a big contribution to reducing a major source of plastic pollution in our communities.