IKEA US to 'Bag the Plastic Bag'

All the price club stores, where you have to pay a membership fee, should integrate renewable bags into their joining process. Maybe they give you the membership kit materials, coupon offerings, etc, in a "perhaps" bag.

(The Russians call them "perhaps" bags because they'd carry around little mesh bags that take no room in their pocket, in the event they perhaps encounter some fresh produce or other scarce commodity, that they could snatch up and carry home.)

At 59 cents, how many people will just throw the bag in the trash after a single use? How many people already do that at 99 cents? Whatever happened to canvas bags that are made to be used and used and used but still aren't made from a petroleum base? This doesn't seem like a positive environmental position at all.

1) BJs, the "price club" near me does not give out ANY bags for checkout; at best, we reuse larger cardboard cartons from other shipped products.



2) Without my cache of small, plastic bags from the food store, with what shall I pick up Rover's poop?

Convenient portability of the reusable bag is key. Canvas bags and the "truck tarp" style ones I've seen at my local supermarket don't solve that problem. A mesh bag with a good web handle seems like the best answer but if they had had these bags at Ikea the last time I was there I probably would have picked one up. It looks like it could have lot's of uses (such as taming my laundry pile or holding my camping gear.

Canvas would be ideal but even reusable plastic bags are a start, considering that they will displace a larger amount of landfilled bags.

Kudos to IKEA mainly for adding back in the "external" cost of the bag! I hope every other store in America does this soon. As for Rover... well, there's always the plastic scoop and bucket. :)

FABULOUS!!! I love, love, love IKEA's bags -- I've used (and re-used) them for years. They're totally indestructible, incredibly lightweight, hold three times as much as canvas, fold down to nothing, and are waterproof and easily rinseable. I've loaded them up with tons of stuff — from art supplies to wholesale club goods -- and have never ripped one. Canvas and mesh have their uses, but for strength and weight and size (and that nothing escapes through mesh holes) they can't be beat.

“When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” -- Bernard Baruch

I think there is too much plastic in the US. I simply do not take the store plastic bags, even in walmart. I have my cart were they can place my items and I can put them into my car. I have a box that I use to bring several items in at a time after I get home.

It would be very hard to monitor bring in bags in stores especially in this time and day of the terror threat.

Actually, it's long been common practice in Scandinavia for stores (grocery, IKEA, electronics, clothing, etc.) to charge for plastic bags. The cost is about $0.75-$1.00, and the grocery bags are stronger than US drugstore or supermarket bags.

Scandinavian grocery stores and IKEA do offer free plastic bags like the flimsy kind used in the US to bag produce, but they break easily. The heavyduty bags come at a premium.

Being the environmentally conscious countries they are, they do this to encourage reusing bags, and naturally, being the socially responsible citizens they are, they dutifully participate.

That said, I make an active effort to reduce the plastic bags in my life and carry a reusable cloth grocery bag. I think the blue IKEA bags are fantastic; I use them to tote my laundry and carry any number of bulky items. They're quite durable.

So good on them for implementing a little Scandinavian eco-awareness in the US!

pretty good idea. as a graphic designer though, i still have to say thumbs down to IKEA

I think it's about time North Americans started paying for bagging. We've been doing it in Scandinavia for at least as long as I've been here (over a decade). We have to pay for bags at the grocery store, and IKEA especially - you can use the bags IN IKEA for your shopping, yellow ones, and then turn them in as you check out- and then you can buy a blue bag to carry your stuff home.
I've taken to bringing a backpack with me- easier to carry the payload home on the bus or bike- but on the off chance that I've needed a blue bag- they never get thrown out- they are perfect for laundry, storage, you name it... take them back to ikea and use them to pack your stuff again!
The grocey stores charge for the bags- I think that's the best- so you bring your tote bag to shop with (or backpack)- and we don't have baggers! You bag your own stuff- and there is no double bagging- because the bags you DO buy are strong enough to carry a full load. You can reuse these as well- and they pack down just as well as a "perhaps"bag.

It took a long time to get there, but good on IKEA for finally charging for the bags.

Stop throwing stuff out! For crying out loud.

Yes- I am putting out an enquiry to all Treehuggers. This is not a spoof e-mail just in case anyone thinks it might be.
I am researching what may become the World's largest eco-resort- which aims to have as close to a zero carbon footprint as it can.

I need to learn about waste water recycling and any state of the art initiatives which may be suitable for this project- so anyone out there who is informed and economically articulate- I would love to hear from you.
E-mail- totaltruth@hotmail.co.uk with Eco in the title line so you are not spammed out. Many many thanks.

You can recycle plastic and paper bags! Plus, the blue bags are realllllly ugly. They could at least make them look somewhat nice. After all, you ARE stuck with it.

A couple of comments regarding the points people made:

1. The bag may be ugly to some, but if you bring in your own bag, you won't be stuck with their bag.

2. People already pay for the bags that are used, but unfortunately, they're not aware of it, because it's added to the price of the items they are buying, as opposed to paying per bag they get.

3. Re: dog poop. I think most people would be amazed at how many bags they go through if they kept them all. Things that often come in bags: sandwich bread, cereal (the bag inside the box), produce, delivered newspapers. These bags should probably be enough to clean up after a dog or two even if you don't get any more grocery bags. If for any reason you run out, you could always buy biodegradable plastic bags made from corn.

Some stores already give discounts for customers bringing in their own bags. The Ralph's and Whole Foods by me each give me a nickel credit per bag. In addition to liking the lessened environmental impact, I've also discovered that I personally much prefer holding a canvas bag with about 15 items on my shoulder or holding its cotton handle than holding the same 15 items in 8 plastic bags that start cutting into my hand.

Finally somebody gets it.

I recently purchased a bag of chips at a food lion. The clerk put the bag in a plastic bag. I said that I didn't need the bag, thanked the clerk, and took my chips. The clerk threw the plastic bag away.

I bought a coffee maker from sears. The clerk insisted I take huge a bag. I left that bag on the floor in the front of the store.

I get irked just thinking about these two incidents. I get angry with the clerks. It's a matter of poor management.

The bags are killing the trees.

I've been carrying these - super easy to fit in a purse or a jacket pocket for surprise trips to the store!

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=255&PRODID=74340

A very small investment that provides a great return!

On a recent trip to India I found that many towns (including Mumbai) had banned plastic bags outright in an attempt to control litter and waste. Stores stocked paper bags and many encouraged reuse.

Plastic bags? what about the fact that Ikea just dumped 500,000 lbs of toxic rubble into the buttermilk channel (east river) in red hook? http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2007/01/12/mia_from_red_ho.php
How "environmental" of them?

I think this is a silly publicity stunt to draw awareness to a relatively minor issue. Next Ikea will take away in-store shopping carts replying that they are cutting down on steel consumption. Come on; enough with the "green” campaign. If Ikea really cared for the environment, they would plant trees around their stores and install more bike racks in front of their stores. How about Ikea reducing the acreage of their parking lots? Ikea store personnel claim stores in Europe gave up bags (very few actually have) and several US cities have banned them (wrong--name me one top 100 US city that has banned plastic bags by law). Their stores are energy wasters, and cutting out bags is nothing more than an effort to reduce operating expenses.

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**Author's response**

Robert,

I have to respectfully disagree, and I'll point you toward IKEA's environmental & social responsibility page if you're looking for more info on their environmental efforts. For a large company, they're really pretty good, and TreeHugger is happy to be helping nudge them in the right direction with a little positive reinforcement. As for cities banning plastic bags, you'll be happy to know that San Francisco has banned them in grocery stores and drugstores, starting later this year. You also mention the bag ban as a cost cutting measure, and while this is true, you'll notice that article notes that the proceeds (up to $1.75 million -- a lot of bags!) will go to American Forests to plant trees to restore forests and offset CO2 emissions, rather than solely to make the company more money. Thanks for reading!

-CD

There are two distinct arguments afoot here: Ikea store operations and the whole “Green” campaign to some how save the planet Earth, which by scientists estimates has been around for 4.5 billion years. Green initiatives are not so much about saving the planet from us; rather, they are about saving the environment from ourselves—sustaining the fragile ecosystems already in place. In this direction, I don’t argue with anyone that we need to plan for our future, however, the planet will do quite nicely without us, thank you, and it will continue to evolve life forms under conditions far worse than our current greenhouse gases and nuclear ambitions are affecting us. “Save the planet” is dramatic hyperbole; “Save ourselves” might as well be the truer goal.

I think Ikea has good intentions, but they challenge their own conservation goals by building huge stores in suburban American cities with gigantic asphalt parking lots that reachable only by car or bus. The whole notion of recycling means little to the average suburban mass that defines their primary consumer, at least from what I have seen in Ikea’s Illinois market. Challenging suburbanites is a lofty and perhaps futile goal. As a resident of downtown Chicago who takes no less than one long train and two even longer bus rides just to have the pleasure of buying a few $4.99 compact fluorescent lamps, I honestly enjoy shopping at Ikea; I admire their marketing and product design; their constant challenge of finding different ways to make out lives easier. However, the day Target and Macy’s do away with their plastic bags will be the real paradigm shift.

You wouldn't believe the ignorance of the bag situation in stores here in chicago. They look at you like you're an alien when you give them your own bags. I buy sturdy reusable ones at our supermarket and reuse them over and over. HOWEVER, I have to beg them not to "line" the bag with a full brown paper grocery bag! One time they literally refused to bag the groceries inside their own sturdy plastic reusable bag i bought without a full brown paper bag inside it. They said it gives "structure." I just rolled my eyes and said ok whatever go ahead and waste some bags if you want. You are looked at with great suspension here if you even mention the environment.

I work at IKEA and it is great that plastic bags now cost. People would take so many with them. The reality is people would take a bag for light bulbs. Do you really need a bag for 1 set of light bulbs. I think not! People have a choice they can buy the 5 cent disposable bags or the 59 cent reusable bags. What many people do not know is the 5 cent bags go toward the American Forests Organization. The price is not that expensive for bags even if you want one. People are stupid if they complain about paying 5 cents for bags. Also, by charging for bags we are helping the environment by reducing the amount of bags. So if you have a problem with the plastic bags, suck it up and bring your own bags.

Consumer bag waste is pretty staggering, and its not just limited to plastic bags (though these are the worst eco-culprits).
I would check out photos and brief stats at www.chrisjordan.com if you doubt this, as well as the book "Paper or Plastic?: Searching for Solutions in an Overpackaged World".

I think that is a terrific idea! Ikea can set the bar and then people like Walmart can follow.

Reusable bags are the future!

What do you think about small amount of green products in IKEA?; I think that is that the most important point of focus about environment and sustainability the production more than the consumer and the plastic bag.

I think its a great idea, even if they're not there 100%. Its the effort that counts! =)

I think its a great idea, even if they're not there 100%. Its the effort that counts! =)

RE: DOG POOP & PLASTIC BAGS

I was always extremely bothered by thinking where all those bags (with dog waste inside!) will be years from now. A quick google search and I found there seems to be plenty of new products that address that issue. Just bought 3 months' supply for 26 dollars. Not bad.

The IKEA blue bags work perfect with my Create-Some-Space recycle bag hanger. I use it as a reusable recycle blue bag. I live in a apartment and hang it of the bracket, carry my good to the bin, it works for me.

Dear Import Manager :

How do you do ?

We get you company name from Internet google.

We are the Taiwan printing factory to invest in China. We have one line high speed six colors printing machine can print 12,000 times per hour to print BOPP,OPP to do the mylar,we also have one high speed five colors print paper machine,the machine can print 13,000 times per hour. We also have 5000 housekeepers to glue our paper bag and mylar sleeve with PVC pot,so our cost is very cheap.It can competitive in the market .

If possible , can we cooperate together?Please contact with us as soon as
possible.

Thanks & Best regards

Robin Yeh,Manager
HOULIYEH INT'L CO.,LTD.
E-mail:houliyeh@hotmail.com houliyeh@gmail.com
Mob:86-13926865858 86-13104796368 886-912370700
Mar-26-2008

"Reusable bag" is a phrase that is so greenwashed at this point. Cotton or poly non-woven also use petroleum to be produced; alot for each. Only way to go is with Hemp bags that are super strong and last forever without a carbon footprint like cotton.

If people are worried about using plastic bags...they can be recycled. Walmart offers drop off boxes in their stores, usually in the entry way, where you can drop off your plastic bags to be recycled.

If people are worried about using plastic bags...they can be recycled. Walmart offers drop off boxes in their stores, usually in the entry way, where you can drop off your plastic bags to be recycled.

While the plastic bags issued by IKEA and Whole Foods and other "green" companies may reduce the carbon footprint, they are still made of plastic.
Reuseniks makes a reusable 100% cotton bag that does away with plastic. That makes more sense, no?
www.reuseniks.com

Now that I’m hyper-sensitized to plastic and it’s effects (from all the reading I’ve done, including Alan Weisman’s book: “The World Without Us”), it’s hard for me to see the world the same way as I did before I knew the effects of plastic. HOW did we survive before plastic? (that’s sarcasm).

There is hardly a food item that you can purchase that does not have some unnecessary wasteful packaging. Even when you buy loose produce, you are encouraged to take yet another plastic bag off a roll and use that for your purchase! Those plastic bags count too when considering the impact on our environment. Since you’re going to wash your produce once you get it home, why can we not just put it into a reusable cloth or hemp bag, take it out to be weighed, and then back into the sack?

It’s always such a struggle when I go shopping - should I buy locally grown items that may have pesticide, or the same item that is organic that is shipped in from far away? Again, should I buy a more expensive version that is in glass vs. plastic, despite the extra energy it uses because it’s being shipped from far away?

Sometimes I wish that I was ignorant, and didn’t have to consider so many options and variables when purchasing and cooking food! I guess that’s why they say: Ignorance is Bliss!

I for one do not like the idea of paying for the bag. Even if I do purchase 1 single item I want the option of having the bag to put it in. If I choose not to use it then it is my choice and my choice alone.

I am checking out at a self service checkout already and today when I went to the Ikea store I discovered the charge for the bag.

Bags and supplies are part of the cost of running a business and are paid for buy the customer already through our purchases.

I can however agree that there is too much waste going on with extra bags, unnecessary wrappings and packaging, but I cannot condone the charging fee for the plastic bags.

2 options are in my mind.

1) Have a donation option at the register for such a charity. If people are willing to pay 30 cents for the 'extra' bags, then most of them should have no problem donating $1 and use the bags they are already paying for before they even get to them.

2) Get rid of the bags all together. Keep the tote for sale.

I cannot help seeing this as another way the consumer is 'nickled and dimed' to death by a company using the environment as a shield.

This is just my opinion