Reusable Bag Sales Double at Fresh & Easy!

Good news from MarketWatch! (Or, if anything, from Fresh & Easy neighborhood markets!) The 99-cent reusable bag is really picking up momentum, and here is a very uplifting statistic: since they started offering the option back in October, reusable bag purchases have more than doubled.

“We want to make it easier for our customers to make green purchasing decisions,” said Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy chief marketing officer. “By offering affordable canvas bag options we can encourage customers to reach for a reusable bag instead of one that might end up in a landfill.”

Fresh & Easy gives away canvas bags to customers at every grand opening celebration and as part of each store’s one-year anniversary celebration. Since opening its first store in November 2008, the company has donated over 175,000 canvas bags.

The bags are made from 100% unbleached cotton canvas, which is incredibly eco-friendly in the spectrum of reusable bags — biodegradable, and with a minimal impact as far as manufacturing. As of yet, my only concern is that people are purchasing the bags for the right reasons. Are there new people buying the bags every time? Or are the same people forgetting their bags at home and, fearful of the plastic, purchasing a new one or two with each visit? If it’s the first, then bravo and well done and I am proud. If it’s the second, however, then more emphasis needs to be put on using the bags you already have, lest you create a whole new breed of bag monster out of good intentions.

But as it stands, it’s very good news indeed! Keep up the good work, Fresh & Easy!

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.