With a ban on plastic shopping bags at Palo Alto groceries set to take effect Friday, all seven of the city’s full-service groceries have already made the switch to offering only paper and reusable bags.
Clerks at Andronico’s, Safeway, JJ&F Food Store and Mollie Stone’s said Wednesday they are no longer providing plastic bags at the checkout counter. Whole Foods Market, Piazza’s Fine Foods, and Country Sun Natural Foods had already eliminated plastic when the Palo Alto City Council approved the ban in March.
“We haven’t had plastic bags for about two weeks,” said Dan Berkson, a clerk at JJ&F. “We stopped ordering them probably a month ago.”
A few customers have complained, he added, while others have happily switched to reusable bags, which the store sells for $1.49 apiece.
“We’re getting more and more of them all the time,” Berkson said of shoppers bringing in their own bags.
The ban at grocery stores is part of a broader city plan to cut down on litter and landfill waste. In April, the city council approved a ban on foam takeout containers at restaurants, which will go into effect next spring. Meanwhile, officials are working on proposals to expand the plastic bag ban to pharmacies and other stores, along with a possible tax on paper bags.
Some groceries fought the bag ban when it was proposed, saying it unfairly targeted them and would give other businesses a competitive advantage. An industry-funded group sued the city, arguing the ban would hurt the environment by resulting in more paper bag use.
The city settled the lawsuit out of court in July, leaving the ban intact but agreeing to conduct a full environmental study before expanding it to other types of businesses.
Glenn Roberts, the city’s public works director, said he hasn’t heard any complaints from the groceries recently.
“After it was approved, they kind of just decided to get with the program,” he said.
Roberts said the ban’s goal is to promote the use of reusable bags, not paper bags. Surveys by city staff found that reusable bag use doubled from 9 percent to 18 percent between 2008 and 2009.
Next week, the city will hold a kickoff event at Piazza’s for its “Bring your own bag” campaign, with children stenciling “Got Bags” on the grocery store’s parking lot and shoppers sharing tips via a video blog on how they remember to bring their bags to the store. The goal of the campaign is to bring reusable bag use to 30 percent by February 2010, officials said.
The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, at 3922 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.
Grocery staff or customers who have questions about the bag ordinance can call the city’s environmental compliance office at 650-329-2598.
E-mail Will Oremus at woremus@dailynewsgroup.com.
