Reusable Bags

[#1]

Bringing my own bags to the store has finally moved to habit status for me now, something I don’t even think about, I just do it. I’ve also noticed many more customers are bringing their own bags as well – hurray! I feel great about doing my part for the environment but my heart goes out to the folks who pack my eight bags with groceries. It’s amazing how quick it is to pack the regular plastic bags vs. the resusables. I had forgotten about this until recently when I added a new bag to my collection. It was designed to not only hold the groceries well but also to make it easier & faster to pack by fitting into the existing space at the end of the conveyor – so smart. And it’s fun too, bright green with Bugs Bunny and our Eating Right Kids logo. The girls actually ask to carry that bag into the house!

[#2]

I want to compliment you on the Safeway Select frozen dinners you make. Every one that I've tried is excellent. Consequently I've switched from Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine to your product. Also, your ice cream is very good, particularly the Spumoni which I've become addicted to. Thank you for your great products at such terrific prices. Sandy

[#3]

Very useful advice!!

[#4]

Oh my god. I can't believe a grocery store has a blog.

[#5]

Safeway cheese: who knew?

TREMENDOUS deals in the cheese section. I've told all of my friends.

[#6]

Hey Safeway! I am a "green" customer. I like the reusable bags! Especially the Eating Right kids bag and the Ranchers Reserve meat bag that you had for a special one time offer of free when you bought so many $ in Safeway meat products! But, the black safeway bags are not very user friendly! The bags are too tall, they need to be shorter so your baggers will put less in them. They get to heavy and they have no cardboard or plastic bottoms to make them stronger and the material is rather cheap and they rip rather easily. The handles are way too long and are useless. And they are costing checker time because they don't work very well in the checkstands. Please, Please, Please redesign your black bags to be more like your Eating Right bags! Or just do away with them all together and only carry the Eating Right bags!

[#7]

I agree with the comments on the black bags, HOWEVER, the product is made from recycled material and putting a plastic bottom in the bottom defeats the purpose of no plastic.  I just folded down a cereal box for the bottom.  The long handles are made to go over your shoulder and they make carrying multiple bags at a time easier.  Notice the green bags and the rancher reserve bag also have long handle options.  The green bags and rancher reserve bags also use plastic, the entire point of having reusable bags is no plastic.  A great solution is to go back to the heavier canvas bags from about 10 years ago. 

[#8]

Please take a look at our website, you may find it interesting: bagwithcare.blogspot.com

[#9]

Nice bag!  We are a team of middle school students trying to encourage and educate the world about reusable bags.  We need your support!  Visit our blog at bagwithcare.blogspot.com for more on reusable bags.

[#10]

I like your bag too.  I love that Safeway is trying to to reduce plastic bags.  I checked out the bagwithcare.blogspot.com and found it very interesting.  It is sad that Bashas won't try to pilot a bag bin.  Maybe Safeway should try it.  Kate, is there someone at Safeway that I could write to about this idea because I think it is great.  I'm not to the habit status yet of taking my bags and a bag bin I could borrow reusable bags from would help.

[#11]

Help, please.

At my local Safeway there is one clerk who scowls when I bring my own bag.  If he is bagging, he actually moves to the next checkout to avoid bagging my goods.

i also hav the problem of clerks who don't ask me, but assume I want my frozen goods bagged first in plastic, then put in my reusable bags.  I usually do shops of $150 or more, so it is hard to unload and watch the bagging at the same time.  i hate to be a "bag police" but really don't want any plastic.

Any words of wisdom to help my local Safeway clerks understand that by bringing my own bags i am saying I don't want plastic?

[#12]

So sorry to hear you're having problems Nancy.  What I would recommend you do is, before they start bagging, let them know that you would prefer not to use any plastic bags, and the bagging clerks will be more than happy to do it for you.  We encourage people that help with the environment, so thank you Nancy

[#13]

"Paper or Plastic," have you ever thought about what this means? In my mind it means would you rather kill trees, or waste nonrenewable recourses? But both paper and plastic grocery bags are a waste of natural recourses.

   You may think differently, and you’re not alone. Many people prefer plastic grocery bags because they are durable, and don’t harm our forest; however, plastic bags are possibly worse for our environment. In Marilyn Pokoreny's article plastic bags are a petroleum product, which is a nonrenewable source of energy. She states that millions of gallons of petroleum are used every year just to make plastic bags. Another harmful thing that I learned about plastic bags is that they aren’t biodegradable, meaning they aren’t environmentally friendly. It can take thousands of years just for one bag to break down. You can try to recycle them but most of the time what you think is being recycled never is, and when plastic isn’t recycled it’s left in land fields to rot. Plastic may seem like an easier less expensive choice, but it’s a costly decision for our environment.

   Another costly decision would be paper bags. According to California Energy Commissions bags disintegrate easier, but it takes one fifteen-year-old tree just to make 700 groceries bags. The fact is thousands of trees are cut down each year leaving forest animals with less and less space to live. They say that for every tree cut down ten more should be planted, but the odds are, they never are. It’s obvious that neither plastic nor paper are good choices. So, what is?

   Reusable. I believe that reusable bags are the right choice to a greener future. If everyone in the world to used reusable grocery bags we would save thousands of trees, and millions of gallons of petroleum, that’s in just one year! But it’s not just up to us shoppers; as of now stores charge up to two dollars for reusable bags. But I think that if stores offered free reusable bags to the public more people would choose to use them.

   However if your grocery store charges for reusable bags, just think, your purchase could lead us to a much safer, healthier future. Maybe even someday, stores will provide benefits to users of reusable bags, or give bags away for free. But as of now it’s up to you. Next time you are asked to "kill trees or waste nonrenewable recourses" choose neither, and go reusable.

[#14]

Jamie,

As one of the first major grocers to offer reusable bags on a large scale, Safeway continues to lead an industry-wide commitment to reduce all single-use, disposable bags, including paper and plastic. We offer a 10% discount incentive on any Bright Green environmentally friendly cleaning product when a customer checks out using reusable shopping bags. We’ll appreciate your feedback and will consider it in the future.  

~Kate