Walmart Caves To Tree Huggers, Changing What Happens To You At Checkout

Sean Brown

While we all can agree that preserving the environment should be a priority for us all, forcing people into doing so isn’t the best idea. However, a new initiative from Walmart does exactly that with what they’re doing to change the way you checkout.
Although the change is happening in Canada, it’s safe to say that it won’t be long before it’s implemented here in America, especially after seeing what the company had to say about it. According to GlobalNews.ca, Walmart announced that all of its Canadian locations are going to start charging customers for each and every plastic bag they use as a part of a strategy to reduce the number of bags that end up in landfills.

In other words, they’re making it expensive to use plastic shopping bags in hopes that people will instead bring reusable bags when shopping at their stores. You know, the same reusable bags that carry deadly bacteria, can be hard to clean, and that people often forget when they go to the store.
Walmart said in a statement that the charge has helped them reduce the number of bags used by shoppers by almost half in other countries, so they decided to implement the policy in Canada. The company also plans on using some of the proceeds to support other recycling initiatives.

Walmart says some of the proceeds from the new charge will go toward supporting recycling initiatives for grocery bags and other thin plastic objects. The company said it’s also going to improve in-store recycling and collection programs and work with suppliers to find ways of removing plastic from its packaging.

While we can all agree that we should be mindful of the environment, this policy is going to be most harmful to Walmart’s largest customer base – lower income families that can’t afford to shop at higher-end stores. It’s great that they’re trying to help keep plastic out of landfills, but struggling families are going to face unnecessary burdens as a result.

Perhaps instead of such a totalitarian approach to reducing waste, the company would be better off finding biodegradable bags to use. Same ends, different means, but one will cost Walmart money while the other costs consumers.