CINCINNATI – Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, says it will phase out single-use plastic bags by 2025.
Seattle-based QFC will be the company’s first division to make the transition to reusable bags in 2019, the company announced Thursday morning.
The retailer estimates that 100 billion single-use plastic bags are thrown away in the U.S. every year and less than 5 percent are recycled, making the plastic grocery bags the fifth-most common single-use plastic found in the environment.
Kroger will solicit feedback from customers and work with non-profit and community-based organizations during the transition.
Eliminating the use of plastic bags is part of Kroger’s initiative to divert 90 percent of its waste from the landfill by 2020 and its Kroger’s Zero Hunger/Zero Waste Food Rescue Program which diverts food to local food banks and pantries.