Publix Supermarket to ban free plastic bags

Publix Super Markets is the largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the United States. They claim to be “committed to the responsible use of environmental resources.”

Publix (as well as many other super markets in the US) keep distributing millions of plastic bags that are thrown away each day which are then washed into bodies of water by rain where they threaten the lives of avian and marine species that can die from consuming or choking on the bags. We want Publix to stand out from its competitors by setting an example.

We want Publix to ban the free giveaway of plastic bags at the counters thus encouraging people to take their own bags for their shopping necessities like it is done in most European stores.

The bags you receive free at the major grocery stores like Publix are not recyclable because plastic bags are too thin and often jam up sorting machines at the recycling plant.

Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Americans alone throw away over 100 billion bags a year! Every hour, approximately 200,000 plastic bags are landfilled and may take up to 1,000 years to break down. On average, 46,000 pieces of plastic are swirling in each square mile of our oceans.

Plastic Bags Endanger Wildlife and our Waterways. The mass consumption of plastic products has created a plastic wasteland in our Ocean. Great ocean currents combined with large amount of non-biodegradable waste have resulted in two swirling vortexes—twice the size of Texas—full of plastic trash. These vortexes did not exist 50 years ago.

Plastic waste endangers fish and wildlife. A study found that almost 200 species of marine life are adversely affected by plastic bag pollution. Tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals, and turtles are killed annually from plastic bags. Fish and wildlife mortalities are caused by strangulation, restricting mobility and disrupting digestion.

Marine animals often mistake plastic bags for food, such as jellyfish. Once eaten, the bags cannot be processed and block the digestive system, making it very difficult for animals to get proper nutrition, and can lead to a slow and painful death from starvation or dehydration. To make matters worse, when the creature dies and decomposes, the plastic bags will be re-released into the environment.

Currently only 0.6 - 2.0% of bags are recycled. Do your part to reduce plastic bag pollution!