PSFC General Coordinators top reasons to oppose the Environmental Committee's proposal to institute a mandatory 20 cent charge for plastic roll bags

1. Top Reasons
A Mandatory Charge for
Plastic Roll Bags at the
February General Meeting
Presented by the General Coordinators

2. What Is a Plastic Roll Bag?
A common supermarket packaging
that is lightweight polyethylene
(HDPE), inexpensive and provides
an essential sanitary barrier.

3. High Usage Among Coop Members
78% of Coop members, or 12,500 people,
use plastic roll bags when they shop

4. No Implementation Plan
— “Will this decision have an overall positive
impact on the Coop?” Our organization
cannot adequately answer that question at
the Feb GM because critical information
has not been presented for evaluation by
the membership
— A proposal of this magnitude should include
implementation options. Members deserve the chance
to evaluate this proposal inclusive of the impacts it
will have on the every-day shopping experience
— The GCs believe a mandatory charge will have many
negative impacts

5. Purchasers of Minimally Packaged
Goods Will Be Affected Most
— 96% of items taken home in roll bags come from the
produce, bulk and bread departments that offer a wide
variety of local, organic, un-processed and minimally
packaged food
— Members purchase 161,000 lbs. of these minimally packaged
items weekly!
— Coop environmental efforts should not target members who
are already purchasing the most minimally packaged and unprocessed food available at the Coop

6. The Coop Has Never Created a Unique
Mark-up for an Individual Product
— Since the Coop’s inception, the GM approved mark-up –
currently 21% – has covered expenses and losses
— Charging 20¢ per bag is a 2500% percent mark-up on a
product for which the Coop pays less than one penny
— We should not set a precedent allowing a “tax” on
individual products making them more expensive, thus
discouraging consumption
— The Coop’s transparent pricing policy creates member
confidence that the mark-up on goods is as low as the
operation can sustain. “Sin tax” pricing practices will erode
member confidence carefully built over our first 40 years

7. Places Financial Burden on Members
Receiving EBT / SNAP
— Environmental concerns are not the only ones we
should prioritize as owners of a cooperative
enterprise
— Neither roll bags nor roll bag alternatives can be
purchased with EBT benefits. A charge for roll bags
will require members receiving EBT/SNAP to pay
for bags from their extremely limited out-of-pocket
funds, regardless of how “minimal” the charge is

8. Produce and Bulk Will Be More
Expensive: Cost of Bags
— When you don’t bring enough bags from home, you
will pay at least 20¢ for each bag you need to
convey your minimally packaged products out of
the Coop, not inclusive of NYS sales tax (2¢ per 20¢
bag)
— The least expensive plastic alternative costs $1.09
for 5 bags. One large muslin bag costs $1.95.
Purchasing only 20 alternative bags/year will cost
$4.36 – $39.00 at a minimum
— In comparison, the average member uses 161 roll
bags a year (or 3 a week) that, at 20¢ each, would
cost $30 a year

9. Produce and Bulk Will Be More
Expensive: Weight of Bags
— In a controlled study of the costs of
heavier bags sold at the Coop, using
large green plastic or any cloth reusable
bags increased the cost of groceries
between 5 – 9%
— If you spend only $40/week on produce
and bulk, the weight of these alternatives
adds $104 – $202 annually to your
grocery bill

10. Sanitation!
— A 2012 study of the health impact of the San
Francisco carry-out bag ban measured a 25%
increase in ER admissions related to bacterial
intestinal infections
— As clean as the Coop is, the checkout belts and
shopping carts are not cleaned daily
— Some members use plastic roll bags to protect
their food for health, sanitary or religious
reasons
— Plastic roll bags provide an essential lightweight
sanitary barrier

11. A Mandatory Charge for Roll Bags May
Not Decrease our Environmental Impact
— 78% of Coop members use plastic roll bags on a
regular basis. Those members who can afford the
surcharge may simply decide to continue using roll bags
to buy minimally packaged products at the Coop. No
proof has been provided that a mandatory charge on
roll bags will reduce usage
— A charge for bags will not necessarily reduce the rate at
which unused bags are discarded prior to checkout
— All available research suggests that lightweight, reusable
HDPE bags, like our plastic roll bags, are among the
most environmentally friendly packaging available
— Reusing and repurposing plastic roll bags further
reduces their impacts

12. The Environmental Impact of
Alternatives to Plastic Roll Bags
— A cotton or LDPE (heavier plastic) bag must be used at
least 131 or 4 times, respectively, to ensure lower
environmental impact than an HDPE roll bag
— A weekly shopper would have to reuse a cloth bag for 2.5
years to reduce its impact to that of a single plastic roll bag
— If you wash in between uses, you would have to reuse
these bags more times
— Alternatives to plastic roll bags are often made with
heavier weight plastic or virgin polyester. Recycled
plastic alternatives are uncommon and extremely
expensive

13. Other Plastic Bag Reduction Initiatives
EXCLUDE Plastic Roll Bags
— San Francisco ban EXCLUDES produce
roll bags because of sanitary
considerations
— In Ireland, EXEMPTIONS to the
mandatory charge include “heavier
weight reusable plastic bags; bags
used for meat, fish, or poultry; bags
for unpackaged produce, ice, or other
foods without packaging.”

14. Education and Voluntary Cooperative
Efforts Can Work!
— An educational campaign to engage members in
voluntary plastic roll bag reduction should be attempted
before instituting a mandatory charge
— With so many of us regularly using roll bags, education
and re-energizing the honor system for payment is the
more cooperative way to proceed
— We urge members to embrace the following: don’t take
more bags than you need; buy products in the bulk aisle
to avoid the excessive materials of packaged goods;
think twice before putting produce items like bananas or
avocados in a plastic bag; bring bags (roll bags or
alternatives) each time you shop

15. The Bottom Line
— A mandatory 20¢ per roll bag charge moves the Coop in
the wrong direction. It will:
— focus impact, inconvenience and cost on members who
shop heavily in the bulk and produce aisles where we
currently sell our most minimal packaged products;
— financially burden Coop members who receive incomebased EBT (or SNAP) benefits;
— depart from our long history of flat mark-up; and,
— create a precedent for “taxing” individual items to
discourage their use
Please come to the Feb 25 GM and vote against the
proposed mandatory charge for plastic roll bags