We all love to celebrate an environmental win, and though the passing of preemption legislation H.B. 242 in 2021 has made it even more difficult for local municipalities to manage waste and plastic pollution, there are still local governments that are moving forward with bag bans successfully. While we celebrate these steps taken by both communities and corporations to limit single-use plastic usage and decrease plastic pollution, we also know that passing the legislation is only the beginning of building an effective bag ban.
Once the legislation has passed there are lots of needs that still must be addressed, and education that needs to be provided. Consumers and community members need to understand how their shopping experience will be affected, as well as continued messaging around why this legislation is so important and beneficial. Additionally, retail businesses, especially grocery stores, must now comply with the bag ban and must modify their checkout procedures and educate their employees.
Grocery store employees have had to endure the challenges of being essential workers throughout the ongoing pandemic: unsustainable wages, difficult schedules, and unsafe working conditions. They face additional challenges with the passing of bag bans to not only master new procedures, but also help educate customers on these changes. Often they are the ones fielding the most questions and providing support to customers as they navigate policy change.
Here are some suggestions to help ease the transition and support retail workers if your community passes a bag ban:
- Look for local resources describing your specific community bag ban and use them to help raise awareness in a positive way to family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to help them prepare for the changes.
- Streamline your own reusable bag system. Use bags that are easy to pack and organize your grocery store purchases in the checkout with ease of packing in mind.
- Spread the word on social media to reach a wider audience.
- Provide positive feedback for retail workers that support this transition to management.
- Be kind to retail workers and lead by example for other customers!
Our kindness and support of retail workers, as they support bag ban legislation and implementation, can go a long way in bringing about a better shopping experience for employees, customers and the environment!