Last year, Sweden-based IKEA launched an initiative called “Bag the Plastic Bag.”
The goal was to reduce the more than 100 billion plastic bags used annually in the United States. Beginning March 15, 2007, they began charging customers 5 cents for every plastic bag; they also reduced the price of their durable, reusable IKEA blue bag from 99 cents to 59 cents.
And, to make it a win-win for everyone, all proceeds from the plastic bag sales are donated to American Forests, the nation’s oldest non-profit citizens’ conservation organization. IKEA North America has partnered with American Forests through the Global ReLeaf Tree Planting program and over ten years, has planted
more than 500,000 Global ReLeaf trees in environmental restoration projects.
So how much money has been raised by selling the plastic bags, by what percentage were they able to reduce the number of plastic bags used, and what are their plans for the next phase of the “Bag the Plastic Bag” program? (The goal was a 50% reduction in bag usage, but it’s projected that that they surpassed expectations.) Stay tuned or read on for reasons why banning plastic bags is vital.
