State Pushes Grocery Shoppers to Go Green

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By Matthew Campbell

Story Published: Mar 12, 2009 at 11:26 PM EDT

Story Updated: Mar 12, 2009 at 11:26 PM EDT

Paper, plastic or cloth is the question shoppers could be hearing the next time they go grocery shopping.

Going green is a growing trend at grocery stores. From the food, to the way they're bagged, many are now environmentally conscious.

"It's just better for the environment," says Huntington shopper, Donna Whyte-English.

Cloth bags started as a grassroots trend in some grocery stores, but it soon could be the norm at all Bay State supermarkets.

"The beauty of it is that these little things that people do really make a big difference," says Rochelle Prunty, manager of the River Valley Market in Northampton.

The Mass Food Association and the DEP hope it's going to make one huge impact on the environment. They signed an agreement Thursday, to encourage the use of the reusable cloth bags. Their goal is to cut plastic bag production by one third. totaling 500 million bags in this state alone.

"That would eliminate 15 thousand tons of greenhouse gases, from getting into our atmosphere, or it's like taking 2500 cars off the road for a full year," says Laurie Burt of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Northampton's co-op market is doing it's part. There's no plastic here. Customers choose between paper and cloth.

"It's kind of a new habit that people are developing," Prunty says.

"Why reuse bags that are just going to end up in a landfill or in a ocean that could hurt an animal," asks Whyte-English.

Back in West Springfield, one store is forcing customers to recycle. Price Rite charges 11 cents for their sturdy plastic bags in hopes customers reuse. Shopper, Porsha Jones, gets the hint.

"Since I'm paying for these, I'd rather recycle them," Jones says.

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