Kroger, America's largest supermarket chain, bids farewell to the plastic shopping bag The CEO of Kroger announces his plan to phase out single-use plastic bags to become a fully sustainable business with zero waste by 2025.

Rodney McMullen | Opinion contributor

Show Caption Hide Caption Kroger plans to eliminate plastic bags by 2025 Kroger plans to eliminate plastic bags by 2025

The plastic shopping bag’s days are numbered. Major cities around the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Boston, have banned their use in retail settings. Our customers have told us it makes no sense to have so much plastic only to be used once before being discarded. And they’re exactly right.

That’s why Kroger is today announcing our intention to phase out single-use plastic grocery bags from our family of stores by 2025. As America’s largest grocer, we recognize we have a responsibility to cut down on unnecessary plastic waste that contributes to litter, harms the environment and, in some cases, can endanger wildlife.

Collectively, we use 100 billion plastic bags a year in the U.S. That’s a lot for something that’s almost always used once before being tossed into a landfill. You could take all those bags and fill three Houston Astrodomes from top to bottom, year after year, with nothing but plastic bags.

Replacing plastic bags with reusable bags

There are less wasteful ways to ensure shoppers can safely and conveniently transport items back to their homes, and Kroger is committed to presenting better options to our customers. We believe we can help our customers be what — at Kroger — we call “Zero Heroes.”

Our ultimate goal is to shift completely over to reusable bags. But such a major change cannot happen overnight. More than nine million people walk through our doors every day, and what works for one person will not necessarily work for another. That’s why we’re giving our customers plenty of time to adapt to a new way of shopping.

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As always, we’re open to new ideas. We’re working with experts and partners to ease the transition, but the single most important partner we can possibly have is our customers.

During the transition, we believe firmly that "reduce, reuse and recycle" should always be our guiding principles. That’s why we plan to improve training materials for associates who are responsible for bagging to reduce the need for bags. Kroger will also continue to offer in-store recycling services for plastic bags and other plastic films. We want to be a trusted recycling partner for our customers, but we recognize merely offering such services is not enough. Kroger is committed to making a difference that can be measured.

We intend to be a zero waste business

When our company’s phaseout of single-use grocery bags is fully implemented, the waste generated by these bags at our family of stores will drop by 123 million pounds per year. To give a sense of just how big a number that is, that's equal to the weight of the entire population of Detroit.

Operating a sustainable business takes commitment. That’s why we introduced our "Zero Hunger | Zero Waste" social impact plan last year with the goal to end hunger in our communities and eliminate waste across our company. By 2025, Kroger intends to donate three billion meals and operate a fully sustainable business with zero waste.

We’d love to join other companies in the food industry — whether food retailers, restaurants or supply chain partners — for these worthy projects. They can start by joining us in taking the leap to say farewell to the plastic shopping bag.

Rodney McMullen is the chairman and CEO of Kroger.