In 1990s, governments in some countries started to impose
taxes on distribution of disposable plastic bags or to regulate the use of them. Some supermarkets have encouraged shoppers to stop using disposable plastic bags, by for example offering inexpensive reusable shopping bags or providing information on plastic bags environmental damage.
United States First introduced in the US in 1977,
plastic shopping bags for bagging groceries at stores flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, replacing paper bags. Many
supermarkets encourage the use of reusable shopping bags to increase sales and profit margins. Most non woven bags cost $0.10–0.25 to produce but are sold for $0.99–$3.00. As stores receive diminishing returns due to saturated markets, there are concerns that prices will drop and they will become the new single-use bag. Some major supermarket chains have string or
calico bags available for sale. They are sold with announcement of environmental issues in many cases. The ones sold in supermarkets often have designs related to nature, such as prints of trees or that of the earth, in order to emphasize environmental issues. One startup company out of
Duluth, Minnesota, embroiders their bags with their local
Aerial Lift Bridge on it. Some supermarkets have rewards programs for
customers who bring their own shopping bags. When the customers collect a certain number of points, they can usually get discount coupons or gifts, which motivate customers to reduce plastic bag use. Some retailers such as
Whole Foods Market and
Target offer a cash discount for bringing in reusable bags. Since 1999, 6.25 billion reusable bags were imported into the
United States for resale and give-aways under Harmonized Tariff Code (HTC) 4202923031 as reported by the
United States International Trade Commission. Most U.S. grocery store customers do not bring their own bags, and many reusable bags go unused by customers, according to a 2008 article in the
Wall Street Journal. In 2009,
Walmart Stores proposed turning three
California stores into reusable-bag-only stores. Concurrently, Walmart was prepared to introduce a $0.15 reusable bag. On 23 October 2009, Walmart abandoned plans to remove carrier bags and introduced the new lower-cost bags. In contrast to previous bags sold at $0.99 and $0.50, these lower cost bags may reduce price incentive to reuse these heavier-duty bags.
United Kingdom Reusable shopping bags are offered in most
British supermarkets. These are sold for a nominal sum, usually 10 pence, and are replaced for free. The bags are more durable than standard bags, meaning that they can be reused many times over. The main purpose of this is to ensure that
packaging waste legislation was met and to encourage the bags to be recycled (which usually earns the retailer a small amount of money per bag), and unlike with 5p
carrier bags there is a (small) financial incentive to bring the bags back for recycling, lessening the environmental impact. In contrast to most spartan carrier bags, bags for life tend to be colourful and sometimes show some aspect of the supermarket's advertising. Some supermarkets maintain the same design for years at a time, whereas some, like
Waitrose, rotate the designs to tie in with either the season or the most recent advertising campaign. Waitrose was the first British supermarket to launch Bag For Life in association with British Polythene Industries. It was the brainchild of Gini Ekstein, from British Polythene industries. Gini Ekstein with Paul Oustedal and Nick Jones, of Waitrose, launched Bag For Life in 1998. It was the first closed-loop recycling initiative; returned and broken bags are made into black benches places outside Waitrose stores. The initial marketing messages designed by Ekstein and by Beth Chiles of Message Marketing are still in use today. Later on, Sainsbury's and other supermarkets introduced the
bag for life. In 2015 the UK Government introduced a
tax on all carrier bags, which meant that every consumer would pay 5p for any carrier bag from any "large retailer" store. The increasing use of
jute and juco bags (a mix of cotton and jute) has provided a natural alternative to single-use plastic bags and reusable plastic bags. These are found in many of the major supermarkets, and over 50 million have been sold in the UK alone. These bags have a 3–4 year lifespan and so are often seen as the ecological option. Jute bags have become a crossover product from an alternative to plastics to a fashion/shopper accessory. Jute bags will last for about 4 years and if used correctly will replace over 600 single bags. At end of life, they can be used as planters for growing garden vegetables.
Ireland In Ireland, they were introduced in March 2002, when the
Plastic Bag Environmental Levy was brought in to reduce the massive amount of disposable bags being used annually. Bags costing 70 euro cents or more are exempt from the levy.
Australia and New Zealand "green bag" from Australia Introduced in the 1990s, these bags are known as
green bags in
Australia due to their relative environmental friendliness and usual (though far from universal) green colour. Green bags and similar reusable shopping bags are commonly distributed at the point of sale by supermarkets and other retail outlets. They are intended to be reused repeatedly to replace the use of hundreds of
high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic bags. Most green bags are made of 100%
non-woven polypropylene (NWPP), which is
recyclable but not biodegradable. Some companies claim to be making NWPP bags from recycled material; however, with current manufacturing techniques this is not possible. All NWPP bags are made from virgin material. Similar bags are made of
jute,
canvas,
calico or
hemp but are not discussed here. A typical base insert is 200 mm (8") × 300 mm (12") and weighs 30 g (1 oz). It is generally made of a stiff plastic. ==Food safety==