Whole Foods Market has ended its bring-your-own-bag refund program after nearly two decades, the specialty grocery confirmed in a Wednesday email to Grocery Dive.
Initially established in 2008, the policy aimed to encourage the adoption of reusable bags by giving customers who brought in their own bags a 10-cent credit.
Whole Foods confirmed that since the use of reusable grocery bags is now standard practice, the program has achieved its goal.
The specialty grocer was ahead of the curve when it came to banning plastic bags. In 2008, it announced its plan to become the first U.S. grocer to completely do away with plastic grocery bags from checkout lines chainwide, news outlets reported at the time.
Over the last 17 years, other grocers, as well as state policies, have caught up with Whole Foods. In September, California updated its plastic bag ban by signing SB 1053 into law, which eliminated plastic bags as an option at store checkouts. Sprouts Farmers Market announced a few years ago it would stop distributing single-use plastic bags by the end of 2023.
Target, CVS, Aldi and Walmart have also introduced initiatives in recent years to cut back on or eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags.
