Bring Your Reusable Bags to Earn a 5-Cent Donation

On Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, GreenStar will begin charging for single-use paper bags requested at the registers. Shoppers are encouraged to bring reusable bags, and will continue to receive a token for our Bring Your Own Bag, Use It for Good program for each reusable bag used to carry groceries.

GreenStar member-owners approved charging for bags in a referendum held in spring 2016, which directed the Co-op to “charge customers for paper grocery bags at the register,” with an exception made for shoppers who use Electronic Benefit Transfer (formerly known as food stamps). Beginning on April 22, shoppers will be charged 5¢ (the approximate cost of each bag paid by the Co-op) for each non-reusable paper bag they request at the registers.

As always, shoppers have the option to bring their own reusable bags. Don’t have any? For the month of April, we’ll bag your groceries in a reusable GreenStar bag — for free! (Patrons are also welcome to pack groceries in any of our numerous recycled boxes, available at the registers in the West End and Collegetown, or at DeWitt by request.)

When you bring your reusable bags to the Co-op — whether they’re GreenStar bags, from another store, or homemade — you’ll receive a token for our Bring Your Own Bag, Use It for Good program. Implemented in October 2014, the BYOB initiative encourages shoppers to bring reusable bags. Each token earned represents a 5¢ donation made by the Co-op to a rotating selection of local non-profits. Three organizations are selected per quarter — the current selections, through the end of June, are Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, Cayuga Waterfront Trail, and Wildkind Care Wildlife Rehabilitation. In 2016, donations from this program totaled $4,201. In 2017, we’ve donated $996.00 to our first quarter recipients, Meadowgate Equine Sanctuary, Northeast Organic Farming Association NY, and the Enfield Food Pantry. Since 2014, this program has raised over $10,000 for local non-profits, and saved over 230,000 bags from the landfill!