Local Grocery Store Adopts Plastic Bag Ban

One of the largest independently owned grocers in New England, Big Y Foods Inc, will adopt the ever growing plastic bag ban by 2020, according to iBerkshires.

Almost 90 cities and towns in Massachusetts, including seven in Berkshire County, have already passed the plastic bag ban.  Adams, Dalton, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge and Williamstown are all municipalities that do not allow retailers and restaurants to use plastics bags.  Now the supermarket chain has committed to eliminating plastic bags from all 70 of it's markets, specialty stores and Big Y Express Gas and Convenience locations.

The Big Y location in Lee has been complying with that town's bag ban ordinance since early 2017, and according to an statement to the online publication, the grocer believes that their customers and the communities they serve have made it clear that they prefer more environmentally friendly alternatives.

According to One Green Planet, single-use disposable plastic bags are suffocating the planet, with 60,000 plastic bags being consumed in the U.S. every 5 seconds. They are made using non-renewable resources, either petroleum or natural gas. They take huge amounts of energy to manufacture, transport across the country, and recycle. They don’t break down in landfill sites (due to lack of oxygen and light- nothing does), but over time they release dangerous chemicals. They’re incredibly difficult to recycle, causing problems such as blocking the sorting equipment used by most recycling facilities. They contribute to a widespread, global litter problem.