Those who rely on Kroger shopping bags for things like cleaning out their cat litter boxes, disposing of dog poop and perhaps other non-animal-feces-related things will have to come up with a new plan in a few years. The Cincinnati-headquartered company announced this morning that it plans to phase out the supplied plastic bags in all of its stores by 2025. The company will switch to reusable bags from that point forward.
According to CNN, the Seattle-based QFC chain (owned by Kroger), will be the first to be rid of the plastic bags. The chain will no longer use them in any stores by sometime next year.
The move comes as more American corporations have been taking steps to eliminate plastic products consumers have become used to over the past several decades. Last year, Kroger began using less plastic in its milk jugs. And companies big and small made headlines earlier this summer by announcing the immediate or eventual elimination of plastic straws, with Starbucks being the largest entity to make the move.
The move away from plastic is being driven by environmental concerns, which for some reason very much upsets some conservatives and libertarians. This summer, several posted photos on social media of themselves defiantly using plastic straws, apparently in an attempt to "own the libs." One self-described "first-generation American/writer/NRA life member" posted a photo of herself with an AR-15 and straw and wrote, "Hey, GOVERNMENT, you can't take my AR-15, so what makes you think you can take my plastic straw? I don't need your permission, you are subordinate to me, and that's the world you're stuck living in." Because all environmental catastrophes are… a hoax perpetrated by liberal Hollyweird or something?
So expect some "only wear clothes made of plastic shopping bags to own the libs" memes to begin surfacing in 3, 2, 1…