Major grocery chain faces criticism after seeming to fall short on nationwide pledge: 'Customers have told us it makes no sense'

A major grocery chain is facing criticism after appearing to be falling woefully short of its pledge to phase out single-use plastic bags by 2025, despite having had seven years to do so. 

What's happening?

As detailed by Modern Retail, Kroger announced in 2018 that its stores would be free of single-use plastic bags by this year, eliminating 123 million pounds of waste annually. However, in its 2024 Environmental, Social & Governance Report, released in December, the retail giant revealed that so far only around 700 of its 2,750 stores had stopped providing these bags. 

"Differences in state and local bag requirements, bag bans, or bans on bag bans further complicate this work to find scalable solutions to reduce single-use plastic bags," Kroger said.

Smaller grocery retailers such as Whole Foods (500-plus stores across North America and the United Kingdom), Trader Joe's (more than 600 locations in the United States), and Aldi (2,489 locations in the U.S.) have already removed the plastic bags from their stores, none later than 2023, Modern Retail pointed out. 

Meanwhile, Farmers' Advance did note that it was "unclear if Kroger's commitment to phase out plastic bags [was] intended to be accomplished by Jan. 1, 2025, or Dec. 31, 2025."

Why is Kroger's use of plastic concerning?

Globally, we go through 5 trillion plastic bags every year — or the equivalent of 160,000 plastic bags every second, according to The World Counts. Unfortunately, that waste stays around for many lifetimes, as plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down. 

In the meantime, they leach toxins into our oceans — depended upon by billions for food and income — harm wildlife that mistake the bags for food or get trapped in the material, and turn otherwise gorgeous vacation spots into unsightly disappointments.  

What is Kroger doing to continue eliminating single-use plastic bags? 

The company said in its 2024 ESG report that it is exploring "how to achieve progress on this challenging topic across the company and in collaboration with others." 

More broadly, it is also working to incorporate post-consumer recycled content into its packaging. And, since 2021, customers have recycled more than 2.2 million pieces of the retailer's own Our Brands plastic packaging at no additional cost to consumers, thanks to Kroger's partnership with TerraCycle. 

However, while those actions represent a move in a positive direction, Greenpeace has called out plastic recycling as a "dead-end street" when it comes to meaningfully addressing plastic pollution. 

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And while not strictly part of the original single-use pledge, it's worth noting that some of the 700 Kroger locations that phased out single-use plastic bags continue to offer "multi-use plastic bags." These are still likely derived from dirty fuels and will probably end up in landfills sooner rather than later. Moreover, it's fair to wonder how many of the multi-use bags are being reused as intended. 

Fortunately, advocating to eliminate single-use plastics and using your purchasing power to support plastic-free brands can communicate to companies that sustainability pays. In fact, former Kroger chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen highlighted customer feedback as a driving force behind the company's initial decision to begin phasing out single-use grocery bags in 2018.

"Our customers have told us it makes no sense to have so much plastic only to be used once before being discarded. And they're exactly right," McMullen wrote almost seven years ago in an opinion piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In the meantime, as Kroger plans its next moves to live up to its promises, you can help reduce plastic pollution in our food systems by shopping with durable, reusable cloth bags. 

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