Commissary patrons encouraged to pick paper over plastic

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FORT LEE, Va. (AFPN) --  Commissaries are hoping shoppers in the United States will say yes to paper bags for bagging their groceries as part of the Defense Commissary Agency's measures to offset recent major cost increases of plastic and paper bags.

"Our customers have a really big role in this latest effort as we try to control costs while continuing to provide a premier commissary benefit. They've responded well during previous 'Say no to plastic bags and no to double bagging' campaigns so this is more of a reminder to continue using paper bags and a call for more customers to join in. The purpose is to control unnecessary costs, not inconvenience customers," said Scott Simpson, DeCA's chief operating officer.

Changing bagging preferences is something most customers have been glad to do when they've been made aware of the cost issues during previous bagging campaigns.

Commissaries tally nearly 100 million customer transactions annually and the agency spent about $20 million on bags last year. The cost of paper bags has increased 34 percent in the past three years, while plastic bag costs have risen 84 percent. Shipping costs offset the difference for overseas commissaries, so the paper bag emphasis isn't applied there, although double bagging is discouraged DeCA-wide.

Commissaries in the United States are trying to reach usage goals of about 70 percent paper and 30 percent plastic, and customers will be hearing more, "Is paper okay?"
Here are some ways customers are helping:

-- They're using paper bags in U.S. commissaries.
-- They're bringing and using their own mesh or canvas tote bags.
-- They're bringing and reusing paper or plastic bags. Customers may bring paper or plastic bags back to the commissary to use for their own grocery order, but commissaries are not able to recycle bags due to health concerns. Baggers may also refuse to use recycled bags if they appear to be damaged or contaminated.

(Courtesy of Defense Commissary Agency)