Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/110595
NATURAL SELECTIONS Newcomers to Bag Regulations On the other side of the country, Montgomery County, Md., is enforcing a 5-cent tax for paper and plastic bags at local businesses, big-box stores, malls and pharmacies. "Retailers are fine with it because they get a kickback of two cents on every bag," says Jeff Zellmer, vice president of government and community relations at the Maryland Retailers Association. "It's become an income stream." Several towns in Colorado, Oregon and Washington charge anywhere from five to 20 cents for both types of single-use bags. Plasticbaglaws.org, a resource for legislative bodies considering laws limiting the use of plastic bags, recently began targeting New York City to join the movement. Plastic-industry lobbyists currently are working to prevent it. Finding the Right Solution for Consumers Dealing with the challenge of bags can be an ongoing issue for food retailers—even ones that have customers predisposed to being aware of the issues. At Common Ground Food Co-operative in Urbana, Ill., a bag "tree" allows customers to hang reusable bags on hooks for anyone to take. "If someone forgets to bring a bag to the store the goal is to have them take a reusable bag from the tree," says Joy Rust, the store's marketing manager. In 2011, the store stopped carrying single-use plastic bags, a policy voted in by the co-op's members, not as part of any city mandate. An internal survey had found that 90 percent of members supported the ban. Members also voted to charge 10 cents each for paper bags. C ounties and retailers may need to educate consumers on the dangers of bacteria buildup. Jeff Zellmer, vice president of government and community relations at the Maryland Retailers Association, says he is seeing more people bring in reusable bags or boxes to carry out their goods. The only problem is bacteria buildup, he notes, if consumers fail to wash these bags regularly. "Meat products seep in and can cause botulism, salmonella poisoning. The county has had to do some education, but it's been going smoothly, from what I've heard. I haven't gotten any blowback from retailers." Peter Flannery, a partner at Bryan's, an upscale grocery store in San Francisco, says he believes the majority of his customers regularly wash their canvas bags. "But some of them are kind of gross," he acknowledges, "and our cashiers don't like to touch them." Common Ground Food Co-operative in Urbana, Ill., is coming up with its own solutions for this issue—at least for the bags donated by their customers. The co-op is looking into sponsoring bag drives and partnering with a local laundromat to make sure the bags are cleaned. 40 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com PHOTO: BIGSTOCK JUST HOW CLEAN ARE THOSE REUSABLE BAGS? Then things got complicated. The co-op recently expanded from 2,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet. Each month 100 new members were signing up. Around the same time the store instituted a policy asking customers to round up transactions for charity. In addition, cashiers were expected to tell non-members coming through the checkout line how to join. "It was a lot to bombard people with," Rust says. In 2013, Common Ground plans to cease BAG BANS STATE penalizing customers BY STATE for not having their own According to campaignforrecycling bags. Instead, there will .org, districts in the following states be a nickel-or-so reward have instituted bans on plastic if someone brings in a bags: Alaska, Arizona, California, reusable bag. Colorado, Connecticut, District Rust says the of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Urbana store has gotten New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and a variety of reactions to Washington. its eco-friendly efforts, though to her knowledge no one has withdrawn from the co-op because View current laws by cities or of them. "Most were districts at specialtyfood.com/ happy with the plastic onlinehighlights. bag ban," she says, "but some were definitely