We’re drowning in reusable bags. Are bag profits preventing big grocers from adopting solutions?

You know the feeling. You’re in line to buy groceries and suddenly realize, with regret, that you forgot to bring reusable bags. So you begrudgingly buy more.

The feeling is so widespread, a catchy song about it is going viral on TikTok. 

Megan Bishop, a college student in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., felt compelled to post her version of the song. She says she and two roommates recently tossed 175 reusable bags that were piling up. Now, they’re stockpiling more.

“We’re human. We make mistakes. We forget our bags at home, and we have to buy them every time, because there’s no other option,” said Bishop.

She wants retailers to offer alternatives, but suspects profits from reusable bags sales are preventing them from doing so. 

“To the retailers, I just honestly, I would like to say you need to focus more on the environment,” said Bishop. “Not everything is about profit.”

In late 2022, the federal government rolled out a ban on certain single-use plastics, including checkout bags. The regulations are being contested in court, but still remain in effect.

The plastic bag ban has had an unintended consequence: a proliferation of reusable bags. 

Studies suggest reusable bags must be used many times for them to have less environmental impact than flimsy, single-use plastic ones. However, many resusable bags don’t get reused, and wind up in landfills — as they’re difficult to recycle. 

Part of the onus is on shoppers to remember their bags. But environmentalists say retailers must do their part by offering circular, in-store solutions, like programs where customers can return unwanted bags or pick up used but cleaned, reusable ones. 

So far, major retailers haven’t bought in, raising concerns that profits from reusable bag sales are getting in the way. 

“Reusable bags are a huge, easy profit revenue generator,” said Renee Lundahl, co-founder of U.S. based, GOATOTE, a company that offers reuse programs. 

In 2022, retail giants Walmart in Canada and Target and CVS Pharmacy in the U.S. did launch — to much fanfare — GOATOTE-run circular reusable bag pilot projects in selected stores.

However, none of the projects materialized into permanent programs.

“Retailers want to engage and they want to pilot, but when it comes to scale, no one actually commits for a full-scale model,” said Lundahl.  

“I have been told directly that reuse programs for this particular product disrupt the profitability that they receive from [bag sales], and they are just not interested in disrupting that,” she said, without naming specific retailers. 

Booming reusable bag market

The reusable shopping bag business is booming. Market research company Zion estimated the global market was worth around $11 billion US in 2023 and projected it will rise to $15 billion US by 2032.

In a statement, Zion said it expects retailers will benefit the most from the market growth. 

CBC News visited a Loblaws, Walmart and Sobeys and Metro grocery store in Toronto. They offered a range of reusable bags, starting at 33 to 35 cents. Some online suppliers sell new, reusable bags in bulk for as low as seven cents per bag. 

Only Walmart addressed CBC’s questions about reusable bag profits. Spokesperson Stephanie Fusco said in an email that Walmart’s popular blue bag, often priced at 33 cents, isn’t a “profit-driver.”

None of the grocers addressed questions about why they haven’t adopted a permanent circular in-store bag program. 

Metro, a chain in Ontario and Quebec, said it plans to launch a pilot project designed to reduce single-use plastic packaging in stores — but it won’t include reusable bags. The grocer does offer bagless home delivery. 

Earlier this year, Walmart introduced a program where customers can mail — at no charge — their unwanted reusable Walmart blue bags to a facility to be recycled, or washed and donated to charity. 

Some environmentalists argue the program is problematic because the onus is on customers to mail the bags, and the project doesn’t prevent shoppers from acquiring more new ones. 

“You’re just going to keep consuming bags and sending them away. It’s not really moving to a circular system,” said Emily Alfred, a waste campaigner with Toronto Environmental Alliance.

And Walmart’s program may become obsolete. Fusco said the retailer is phasing out its blue bags, replacing them with paper bags made largely with recycled materials. 

Alfred says this solution is also problematic, because significant resources, such as water and fuel, are still required to make the paper bags — which are single-use. 

“It’s really disappointing,” she said. “It feels like [Walmart is] really taking the easy way out rather than putting the time into building a real, circular system.”

Walmart said it will continue to explore environmental solutions and encourages customers to bring their own bags. 

Target and CVS Pharmacy didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

Return your bag, get rewarded

A version of a circular program can be found at Penguin PickUp. The chain, which offers pickup locations for online purchases, sells thicker reusable bags for $1.75 at several Toronto stores. 

When customers return a bag, 50 cents will be donated to the food bank on their behalf, or they can bank the money and get cash back once they’ve earned $5. Returned bags are washed and resold. 

“Rather than these [bags] going to the landfill or recycling facility, there’s a lot of life left in them before it gets to that stage,” said Nawed Shaikh, CTO of GOATOTE Canada.

Environmentalist Alfred believes the only way to get major retailers to commit en masse to sustainable programs is for governments to mandate that retailers take action.

“They don’t really have a specific incentive to invest in reusable, circular systems,” said Alfred. “We can’t expect them to do better.”

In July, B.C. mandated that retailers charge customers at least $2 for new reusable bags. The high fee might help some shoppers to remember to bring their bags. However, the regulations only suggest — not mandate — that retailers use the proceeds to invest in circular bag programs. 

The federal government told CBC News it’s aware of concerns that Canadians are stockpiling reusable bags, but offered no immediate solutions.

“It is recognized that transitioning to using reusable bags is a shift in behaviour that requires time,” said Environment Canada spokesperson Samantha Bayard in an email.