More information: http://foodcoop.com/go.php?id=458

1. Top Reasons
To Approve the Proposed
Phase Out of Plastic Roll Bags
at the May General Meeting
Presented by the General Coordinators

2. What Is A Plastic Roll Bag?
If this proposal passes at the
May General Meeting (GM),
these bags will no longer be provided by
the Coop

3. High Usage Among Coop Members
78% of Coop members, or 12,500 people,
use plastic roll bags when they shop
In comparison, only 27%, or
3,500 people, were using plastic
grocery bags when eliminated
at the GM in 2007

4. No Free, Readily Available Alternative
• Any alternative available at the Coop will
cost YOU money!
• In comparison, when plastic grocery bags
were eliminated, boxes were freely
available for members to convey their
groceries.
• The Coop strives to make itself
economically accessible to all who want to
join. Eliminating plastic roll bags will add a
cost to people’s membership.

5. Roll Bags Allow Members to Easily
Purchase High Volumes of Minimally
Packaged Local, Organic, Fresh Food
 96% of items taken home in these bags
come from produce, bulk and baked
goods aisles.
 Members purchase 160,000 lbs. of these
minimally packaged items weekly!

6. The Elimination of Roll Bags May
Have A Negative Impact
on The Coop's Financial Health
 36% of members surveyed said they would
either forgo or delay a planned purchase in
the absence of roll bags, despite
availability of alternative bags.
 In a worse case scenario, this would
translate into lost sales.

7. The Proposed Elimination of Roll
Bags Assumes Members Will Bring
Enough Bags
(either re-used, reusable or new)
with Them EVERY TIME They Shop
WE DISAGREE!

8. Ask Yourself These Questions
What if I go to
Will I really bring enough the Coop on the
bags with me EVERY TIME spur of the
I shop at the Coop? moment?
I don’t have
enough bags….
Should I Should I buy
put something ANOTHER
back? reusable bag?
Should I pass on
these luscious local Should I just buy the
strawberries? pre-packaged salad
mix?

9. It Will Cost You More to Shop
at The Coop
Why?
 If you switch to pre-packaged items, those
items will always be more expensive
 You will likely have to purchase
alternatives to roll bags
 Purchasing items in a heavier reusable
bag will definitely increase the cost of
your groceries

10. Roll Bag Alternatives Are Expensive
 The Coop spends $1.43 annually to
provide the average member with 161 roll
bags
 The least expensive comparable
alternative costs $1.09 for 5 bags
 One large muslin bag costs $1.95
 If you purchased only 20 bags/year, you
will spend $4.36 – $39.00 at a minimum

11. Heavier Reusable Bags Increase the
Cost of Your Groceries
 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.

12. Eliminating Roll Bags Is Not an
Environmentally Sound Decision
 HDPE plastic roll bags (like ours) have a
smaller environmental footprint than
alternatives like cotton or heavier plastic
 Reusing and repurposing plastic roll bags
further reduces their impacts

13. Can You Re-use Your Cotton Bag
131 Times?
 You would have to reuse your cotton or LDPE
(heavier plastic) bags at least 131 or 4 times,
respectively, to ensure lower environmental
impact than an HDPE roll bag
 If you shop weekly, you would have to reuse a
single cloth bag for 2.5 years to reduce its
impact to that of a single plastic roll bag
You would have to reuse these bags more times if
you wash in between uses

14. Sanitation!
 As clean as the Coop is, the checkout
belts and shopping carts are not cleaned
daily
 Some members choose to use plastic roll
bags to protect their food for
health, sanitary or religious reasons
 Non-waterproof alternatives won't meet
the needs of these members

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

16. Bans Don’t Actually
Change Behavior
According to reuseit.com,
“Bans shove, not nudge, people to
change their behavior.”
Nudging (and educating) is what results in
long-term changes in behavior.

17. Summary
 We provide plastic roll bags because they allow us to provide good
quality, inexpensive, healthy and environmentally friendly food in
keeping with the Coop’s mission
 The roll bag elimination will force a shift to alternatives that are
harder on the environment, some significantly so. The shift will
also cost members who use alternatives significantly more money
 We are committed to continually reducing the Coop's
environmental footprint. Banning roll bags is not the way to
achieve that goal
 We believe Coop efforts should be focused on the reuse and
reduction of roll bags, not elimination
Please come to the May 28 GM and vote against the
elimination of plastic roll bags from the Coop