No Bags At Lakeview Whole Foods
CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) -- If you shop at the Whole Foods on North Ashland Avenue anytime Wednesday, you might want to bring your own bag.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Lisa Fielding reports, we're all used to the traditional question of paper or plastic at the grocery store checkout line. But Whole Foods says neither is an option Wednesday.
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They say you should instead reuse bags you already have.
"It's an easy thing that makes an impact immediately," said Whole Foods spokesman Joshua Sovell.
Sovell says "A Day without a Bag" is the first event of its kind at the Lakeview Whole Foods store, at 3300 N. Ashland Ave. just north of the junction of Lincoln, Ashland and Belmont avenues.
"This is just the Lakeview location this year. We're just kind of a test store to see what happens, and we're really excited for it at the store, and if it goes well, we might roll it out larger than that," Sovell said.
Sovell is encouraging customers to bring in reused bags, used cloth bags, or even backpacks for their groceries.
"If you don't have a bag, we have gently used bags or bags to buy," he said. "If you're picking up your lunch, you might not need a bag, so go without and you'll do something for the environment."
Sovell says not using bags for a day will go a long way in making a difference for the environment.
"It's a great promotion for Earth Month, and we're trying to make an immediate impact in people that hopefully will last year-round," Sovell said.
The Day without a Bag event goes until 10 p.m., when the store closes for the night.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, somewhere between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Once in the environment, it takes months to hundreds of years for plastic bags to break down.
