Turning the bag idea on its head

October 25th, 2009 at 11:04pm Jennie Pollock

I’ve heard of charging customers for using plastic bags to discourage their use, but thanks to Holli Connell on Twitter, I’ve learned that Target will start paying me for using my reusables!

According to this USA TODAY story, starting Nov. 1, you can earn 5 cents per bag used. That’s not a huge incentive, but who needs one to go to the place where you stop for hair spray and leave with a cart’s worth of stuff.

Will it work?

A pilot test in 100 Target stores earlier this year resulted in a hefty 58% reduction in plastic bags used, says Shawn Gensch, vice president of marketing. “The best-case scenario is that we’ll have 100% success and every consumer will use a reusable bag.”

Entry Filed under: Green business, Living without plastic