grocery stores started using plastic bags in 1930s.
when did grocery stores start using plastic bags?
1930s
the dixie bag company of college park, georgia, owned and operated by jack w. mcbride, was one of the first companies to exploit this new opportunity to bring convenient products to all major shopping stores. the dixie bag company, along with similar firms such as houston poly bag and capitol poly, was instrumental in the manufacturing, marketing and perfecting of plastic bags in the 1980s. kroger, a cincinnati-based grocery chain, began to replace its paper shopping bags with plastic bags in 1982, and was soon followed by its rival, safeway.
plastic shopping bag
the high-density polyethylene (hdpe) single-use bag was invented by a swedish company in the 1960s. the single-use plastic bag was introduced into the u.s. by exxonmobil corporation and had found its way to grocery stores by 1976. in the united states, there are approximately 92 billion plastic bags used annually by retail industries such as supermarkets and pharmacies as compared to roughly 5 billion paper bags. from a global perspective, it is estimated there are anywhere from 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags used each year. due to concerns over litter and impacts to marine wildlife and environments, many countries have either banned or placed levies on plastic bags. within the united states, there are 16 states that have introduced some type of legislation banning, imposing fees, or mandating plastic bag recycling. following the san francisco 2007 ordinance banning plastic bags, twelve california cities have enacted plastic bag ordinances, including malibu, santa monica, fairfax, palo alto, long beach and manhattan beach. similar actions have taken place at the county level in los angeles, marin and santa clara counties with numerous other cities and counties following suit with proposed plastic bag ordinances pending activation. in efforts to respond to pressure from retailers and environmental and special interest groups, the plastic bag industry is looking to increase the amount of recycled material in plastic bags to 40% by the year 2015. the plastic bag industry believes that by increasing the recycling of plastic bags, some 463 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and 300 million pounds of waste will be avoided on an annual basis.
save the plastic bag coalition v. city of manhattan beach