Walmart announced that it will cease to supply plastic carryout bags at its Washington retail stores starting April 18. The move will encourage shoppers to use the retail chain’s reusable bags. The decision also fits in with the state’s ban on thin plastic retail bags. The company’s new guidelines will affect the more than 60 Walmart stores across the state. Washington will join Vermont, Maine, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Colorado in the corporation’s efforts to eliminate waste and encourage shoppers to supply their own bags.
“Eliminating single-use bags is part of our effort to reduce waste at our stores and help keep Washington communities and ecosystems clean,” stated Jane Ewing, senior vice president of Walmart Sustainability in Walmart’s news release. “Our Washington customers want to be engaged on this journey, and Walmart is committed to making the sustainable choice convenient and accessible every day.”
Walmart’s delivery service will continue to use paper bags. Banned bags at WA retailers Single-use plastic bags started seeing city-wide bans in Washington municipalities starting in 2010. In the following years, dozens of local governments began to enact their own single-use plastic bans, most of which were cities in eastern Washington. Washington state completely banned single-use carryout bags in October 2021. The ban aims to reduce contamination within recycling and compost systems, promote reuse and recycled content and support the recycled paper industry.