Program urges plastic bag reduction

San Francisco, CA— Americans will use over 100 billion plastic shopping bags this year alone — and plastic bags never fully degrade, making them a growing problem in communities and landfills. To help educate consumers about this growing problem and to provide them alternatives to help mitigate it, Albertsons stores, the California Coastal Commission, Earthwise Bag Company and California owned and operated CBS Television Stations announced the launch of a major public education campaign.

Through broadcast media and an in-store educational campaign, the initiative will educate consumers about the threat that plastic bags pose to our environment. It will urge people to reduce plastic bag consumption, use reusable shopping bags during their regular trips to the grocery store and recycle their unwanted plastic bags at Albertsons stores. The program combines public service announcements and paid media time on the Viacom stations, as well as educational materials and in-store media in Albertsons stores throughout California and Nevada.

In addition to sponsoring this campaign and educating customers at their 475 California and Nevada stores, Albertsons stores have retrained all of their front-end associates on how to minimize bag usage and encourage customers to bring reusable shopping bags when they come to their stores.

Last year Albertsons recycled over 6,000 tons of plastic bags, wrap and film.