Researchers Say Environmentally Conscious Shoppers Don’t Bring Reusable Bags To The Store

Sustainability Researchers Say Environmentally Conscious Shoppers Don’t Bring Reusable Bags To The Store Jeff Kart Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 28, 2022, 09:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A catchy slogan isn’t necessarily enough to get people to regularly use reusable bags.

getty A recent Freshwater Science webinar by Ohio Sea Grant was titled “Why Environmentally Conscious Shoppers Don’t Bring Reusable Bags. ” Which makes you want to watch if you’ve heard that it’s better to bring reusable bags when you go shopping. Isn’t it? The single-use plastic bags they hand out at the store are basically meant to be used once, for your trip from the store to your car, then from your car to your home.

OK, maybe you save them for picking up after the dog on walks. But they’re wasteful. Why shouldn’t environmentally conscious shoppers bring reusable bags to the store? Does anyone out there shop at Aldi ? The speakers were Jill Bartolotta and Dr.

Scott Hardy from Ohio State University. Basically, the title might be a little misleading. Clickbait? Or just clever? It turns out Bartolotta and Hardy at Ohio Sea Grant looked at the effects of giving out free reusable bags at stores and farmers markets.

They found that just having reusable bags available was not an effective approach to reducing the use of plastic bags. Instead, they say communities should consider focused approaches like bag bans, education and outreach strategies along with financial and policy incentives. That’s not as exciting though.

Or is it? MORE FOR YOU The ‘Backsies’ Billionaire: Texan Builds Second Fortune From Wreckage Of Real Estate Empire He’d Sold Twitter Needs More Regulation, Not Less, For Elon Musk To Advance Free Speech And ‘Help Humanity’ What To Expect From MetLife Stock? MORE FROM FORBES Winning Solutions To Single-Use Plastic Bags Are Being Tested By Some Major Retailers By Jeff Kart A plastic bag ban went into effect in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, in January 2022. Rather than handing out tickets or stationing officers at stores, retailers are encouraged to make alternatives available for purchase. Shoppers are encouraged to bring reusable bags with them, according to the county’s website .

The research, as explained by Hardy, was first done for the city of Cleveland on ways the city could reduce plastic marine debris like water bottles, cigar tips . . .

and plastic shopping bags. They sent out a survey and received almost 1,500 responses. “One of the first questions we asked was, just really simply, ‘Why don’t use reusable bags?’” Hardy said.

“. . .

The No. 1 response by far was that folks forget to bring them, that people have plenty of reusable bags, either at home or in their car, and they simply forget to use them. ” They found that most people had at least six reusable bags at home.

Many had more than 20. This is important information, Hardy said, because there are limited resources available for cities and towns to address plastic pollution. Spending money to pass out free reusable bags is unnecessary because people already have them.

Different Strategies So they did some grocery and clothing store outreach with a grant from the federal Marine Debris Program. That involved hanging outside stores for about a month, talking to consumers about the perils of plastics and the importance of bringing your own reusable bags. They even had reminder decals for your car and magnets for your fridge.

But that didn’t make much of a difference, based on more surveys and observations. “. .

. The difference was really sort of, oh gosh, it was unwelcome, we’ll say,” Hardy recalled. “We had anticipated a much greater reduction in plastic bag use.

” By the numbers, it was 2. 232 average plastic bags used per person pre-outreach, 2. 072 post-outreach and 2.

156 at the start of a Covid-based ban on plastic bags that occurred during the research. “Along with spending money to create reusable bags and handing them out, spending money to create knickknacks and reminder strategies also didn’t seem to be effective,” Hardy said. Store signs were more effective, said 68% of those surveyed.

A woman carries her groceries in a plastic bag while leaving a supermarket. AFP via Getty Images Ohio Sea Grant also partnered with an agency that was handing out reusable bags at farmers markets, which see a good share of environmentally minded shoppers. A similar experiment was done there, talking to shoppers about the importance of reducing plastic waste, handing out reusable bags and observing.

“We found a very similar trend to the previous study: People simply weren’t using them. ” So that’s that. They tried, right? Well, a follow-up email survey to the farmers market shoppers also was sent, focusing on the financial, such as legislative bans and fees for using a plastic bag.

Overwhelmingly, people said they favored legislation, fees and even bans by individual businesses on plastic bags, according to Hardy. In focus groups, those individual businesses said most shoppers were fine or even enthusiastic about the efforts. Using signs and social media posts and training employees helped educate shoppers and made for good business.

In Summary So after several years of research, “What we know is that spending money and using resources to purchase and hand out reusable bags doesn’t work,” Hardy said. “The knickknacks and paddywhacks also are not very helpful . .

. “While people often have a very strong environmental ethic in terms of not wanting to create plastic pollution, it’s simply so convenient and memories are often short . .

. that voluntary participation also isn’t effective. ” Legislative policies and business strategies like removing plastic bags from stores seem to be the most effective means of reducing plastic in our environment, he said.

Need encouragement or guidance? The university has created tip sheets on topics including Sustainability Around the House , Bartolotta said. So, based on research like this, why don’t state governments just ban plastic bags? There seems to be a battle between banning bags and bans on banning bags, Hardy said. States like Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida have bans on local ordinances that ban plastic bags, he said.

“So even if communities want to take this step . . .

by state law they are not allowed to. ” The topic has become politicized, Hardy said. Bartolotta said they’ve been working with the National Sea Grant Law Center to analyze nationwide plastic reduction strategies.

Cuyahoga County is allowed to have its bag ban because of “home rule. ” MORE FROM FORBES Award Nominee ‘Toxic Tours’ Maps Plastic Pollution Stories In Communities Around The World By Jeff Kart Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Check out my website .

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