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more photosWest-side Bend Pet Express Manager Jordan Miller rings up a sale in front of some of the store’s reusable bags, which cost $1. Starting in February, the two Bend Pet Express stores will charge customers 25 cents for a plastic bag.
Melissa Jansson
Local shops bag tradition in favor of reusable sacks
Several smaller stores have made the shift, citing waste and cost
By Scott Hammers / The Bulletin
Published: January 05. 2009 4:00AM PSTShoppers at Bend Pet Express will find themselves paying a bit extra next month for a plastic bag to carry that new collar or squeaky toy for their furry friends. As part of an effort to cut back on waste, the two-store chain will start charging 25 cents Feb. 1 for each bag, while simultaneously urging customers to buy a reusable bag that will save them 25 cents on every future purchase.
The Bend pet supply stores are among a handful of smaller local businesses that have taken to offering customers reusable bags and discounts for using them. Josh Knowles, who handles marketing duties for Bend Pet Express, said the two stores go through roughly 24,000 plastic bags a year, a number they’re hoping to reduce significantly in 2009. The store-brand reusable bags — bright red, printed with the Pet Express logo and available for $1 — have been in the stores for a couple of months now, and customers seem to be warming to the idea, Knowles said.
“What we’re trying to do is cut back on people using bags for those smaller purchases,” he said. “They’re going to be much less apt to take a bag if they’ve just got, say, a chew toy, if we say, ‘You’re welcome to a bag, but it will cost you 25 cents.’”
Well established at larger grocery chains — Ray’s Food Place offers a 5 cent discount for every bag customers bring in, Safeway offers 3 cents — reusable bags and discounts for using them are relatively new at smaller stores, said Nikki Roemmer from the Bend Environmental Center.
A few local businesses selling everything from coffee to skin- care products to bedding have taken to selling reusable bags to their customers, or designing their packaging with the expectation it be used again, she said.
Roemmer said the need to reduce unnecessary waste and expense may be more apparent at smaller businesses.
“It seems like a lot of the local stores are in the habit of saying ‘Do you need a bag, do you want a bag?’ and then you go to a more mainstream place and they double bag it,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a disconnect — they’re not paying for that bag so they don’t think about it. The small stores with just a few employees, they have more of a concept that not only is a bag wasteful, it has a cost as well.”
At Bend Pet Express, the new bag policy will give customers an opportunity to donate to local charities instead of pocketing the savings, Knowles said. The 25 cents they save for using a Pet Express bag — or 10 cents for any other bag — can be taken off the customer’s bill, or be redirected to the Redmond Humane Society, DogPAC or the NeighborImpact food bank.
Newport Avenue Market has a similar program, where using a Newport Market bag takes 5 cents off the purchase and donates another 5 cents to a tree-planting program run by the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District.
At Devore’s Good Food Store, right across the street from Newport Market, owner Mary Devore ordered a shipment of custom canvas bags from a cooperative of women based in India. While customers don’t save any money by using a Devore’s bag, they’ve been popular, and the store is looking to order more.
“It seems our customers really like them,” said Devore. “It’s fun seeing them around town, and I get word from back East sometimes that a bag’s been spotted somewhere, and that’s pretty cool. We made sure to put Bend, Oregon, on it to show where they came from.”
For Chad Centola, operations manager at Knott Landfill, seeing bags around town — of the plastic variety — is a constant source of frustration.
“They’re terrible,” Centola said. “They’re probably the biggest part of our litter problem out here; they’re just so lightweight and so prevalent in the waste stream.”
Some businesses that don’t even sell products that can be carried in a bag have started distributing reusable bags as well. Sunlight Solar Energy, which sells and installs solar electric and solar hot water systems, gives away bags printed with the name of a solar panel manufacturer. Marketing Manager Stephanie Manzo said they started giving away the bags at trade shows to spread the word about solar energy and give people something useful to take home, and now offer them as part of a thank-you gift for customers.
Knowles said Pet Express is taking a bit of a risk by going a step beyond most stores and adding a charge for plastic bags, but he expects a mostly painless transition.
“Most of our customers are pretty hip to the game. I’ve been telling customers these plans for about a month, and I don’t think I’ve had any negative responses so far,” he said. “I’ve heard, ‘Wow, that’s a great idea,’ even when I say, ‘Coming February 1, you will be charged for this bag.’”
Customer Ann Story, buying dog food at the west-side Pet Express location last week, said she supports the change. Story said she makes an extra effort to recycle everything she can, saving up sacks of the plastic caps from her Gatorade bottles for trips to Portland, where they can be recycled.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “I have some of those bags already — not from here, from the grocery store — and I try to use them a lot.”
Scott Hammers can be reached at 541-383-0387 or at shammers@bendbulletin.com.
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