The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Consumers trash move to charge for paper bags
Goal is to urge a shift to reusable bags, state retailers say
The recently enacted state law phasing out singleuse plastic shopping bags is frustrating some Connecticut consumers because it contains a loophole that allows retailers to charge for the paper kind.
A majority of grocery stores and other retailers now make shoppers pay 10 cents for each paper bag, a practice that didn’t exist prior to Aug. 1. State law now mandates retailers charge customers 10 cents for every singleuse plastic shopping bag until July 1 2021, when they no longer will be available.
Between now and July 2021, proceeds from the plastic bag purchase will going into the state’s coffers. But money from
purchasing the paper bags is being pocketed by retailers, a practice that irks some Connecticut consumers.
David Bednarz, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, said the plastic shopping bag ban “did not change anything related to paper bags.”
“If a business is charging their customers for paper bags, that was a decision the individual businesses decided to make on their own,” Bednarz said.
Louis Burch, Connecticut program director of the Hamdenbased Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the idea behind charging for paper bags is to try to change consumer behavior. The organization was one of leading environmental groups that lobbied for the plastic bag ban.
The fact that the loophole exists is reflective of the fact that some Connecticut lawmakers had varying levels of comfort with the legislation as the plastic bag ban made its way through the state legislature, according to Burch.
“We’re not overly concerned with where the where the money goes,” he said. “While it’s true that paper bags are recyclable, we’re in the midst of a crisis in Connecticut because we’re not recycling very much. The cost of recycling is going out of control and paper bags weigh more than plastic, so it’s going to end up costing communities a whole lot more.”
Cheshire resident Donna Lockwood said charging for paper bags “is disgusting.”
“I don’t think any store should charge for paper,” Lockwood said. “I may choose to go elsewhere just for the principal of it.”
Finding stores, particularly large retail chains, that don’t charge for paper bags requires a little work. Among the large retailers that aren’t charging for paper bags are the CVS pharmacy chain and Trader Joe’s grocery stores.
Retailers that charge for paper bags are taking advantage of the situation in Connecticut, said Nels Nelson. The Cheshire resident said the private golf club he works at as clubhouse manager recently switched from plastic straws to those made of paper.
“I don’t charge for them: It is called price of doing business,” Nelson said. “Imagine a coffee shop saying $2.50 for a cup of coffee, but now cream and sugar are extra.”
Lynda Pryzbyski is a Wallingford resident who along with her husband, Alan, owns Bella Gusta. The West Hartford specialty retailer sells specialty cooking oils and vinegars
“I pay between 40 to 50 cents per paper bag I buy,” Pryzbyski said. “If I ever tried to charge even 10 cents for a bag, my customers wouldn’t come any more. Yet the large chain stores get away with it.”
Large retailers contacted by Hearst Connecticut Media for this story said charging customers for paper bags is not designed to boost profits.
Richard Bossie, Big Y’s senior vice president of operations and customer experience, said the 10cent per bag charge “is basically a break even for us.”
“We’re not big fans of paper bags,” Bossie said. “We’d kind of like to be out of the paper bag business entirely.”
Big Y has been complying with singleuse plastic bag bans in several Massachusetts communities since 2014, he said. And so when the Connecticut ban was signed into law, Bossie said the chain moved up its 2020 timeline to eliminate singleuse plastic bags at checkouts in all of its locations in order to streamline operations and to do its part to support sustainability.
Stew Leonard Jr., whose chain of seven grocery stores includes Connecticut locations in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington, said his company actually loses money even with the 10 cents per paper bag it now charges. The grocery chain pays 14 cents for every paper bag it buys, Leonard said.
Karen O’Shea, a spokeswoman for the New Jerseybased Wakefern Food Corp., the retailers’ cooperative group of supermarkets that oversees the ShopRite chain, said paper bags are an alternative for customers who are concerned with environmental sustainability.
“Stores are charging the 10 cents on paper bags to cover the higher costs of producing more paper bags,” she said. “ShopRite is committed to sustainability and we encourage all our customers to ‘be the change’ and bring their own reusable bags to the store each time they grocery shop. That is our main message and we are already seeing many people do just that in the weeks since the new law went into effect.”
Burt Flickinger, managing director of New York Citybased Strategic Resource Group, said research done by Social Clique, an independant research firm, found that 90 percent of consumers surveyed in southern New England want food retailers in the region to be environmentally responsible. Researchers also found that 30 percent of shoppers in the region in the 19 to 59yearold age group would switch to a retailer they believe to be environmentally conscious.
Trader Joe’s offered plastic grocery bags in its stores at one time. But at the end of last year, the Californiabased chain announced a broad initiative to eliminate the amount of plastic waste its stores produces.
“While most of the plastic in our packaging has the highest recyclability acceptance rate in the U.S., reducing the amount of plastic packaging in our stores is another important focus of our sustainability,” company officials said in a written statement announcing the initiative.
The focus of the Trader Joe’s initiative includes:
Reducing and removing packaging whenever possible.
Choosing packaging that can be realistically recycled.
Providing information to customers that increases understanding of how best to recycle or dispose of packaging.
Replacing plastic produce bags with biodegradable and compostable produce bags.
Some Connecticut shoppers, though, are more accepting of retailers charging for paper bags.
“The cost of paper bags from my understanding is much higher than the plastic bags,” said Mary Moynihan Underwood, of Cheshire. “So if stores are going to need to have more available, the cost is going to have to come from somewhere. This will definitely encourage me to have my reusable bags all the time.”
Bryan Ciaburri, of Plainville, said he’d consider shopping at a retailer that charges for paper bags if the money “was being used for an organization like helping children with cancer.”
“If they haven’t been charging all these years for paper bags, then why start?” Ciaburri said. “How much more money do I have to just give away to live?”
Retailing experts also questioned the wisdom in charging for paper bags.
“I can’t understand why they would charge for paper bags, because it’s going to tick people off,” said David Cadden, professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business. “The paper bags are much suited to stack items in.”
Flickinger said data indicates that consumers in New England already pay some of the highest costs in the country for retail purchases.
“It could create a case of sticker shock for some consumers,” Flickinger said. “It’s definitely going to hurt all retailers in the supermarket sector.”
Warehouse club retailers such as BJ’s Wholesale Club and Costco will be the likely beneficiaries of consumer loyalties that shift as a result of charging for paper bags, he said.
“It’s going to be a bonanza for them,” Flickinger said.