SEQUIM — On Monday, Sequim’s QFC joins a company-wide campaign to stop using single-use carry-out plastic bags at its registers.
Jeff Lundstrom, manager of the store at 990 E. Washington St., said the decision was made by its parent company Kroger under the program called Zero Hunger/Zero Waste.
“We’re trying to reduce the amount of stuff we put in landfills,” he said. “We know plastic bags are a big part of that.”
So that means checkers will offer paper bags with handles at no cost or offer reusable bags for sale, Lundstrom said.
“The way we’re going, we’ll be out of [plastic bags] before [Monday],” he said last week. He opted not to order more plastic bags weeks ago.
For many customers, the change might be moot. Lundstrom estimates at least half of the store’s customers bring in reusable bags anyway.
Customer Jack Guinn, a Sequim resident for four years, said he’s been in the habit of using cloth bags since Shoreline, his former home, banned plastic bags in early 2014.
“I’ve gotten used to doing it,” he said.
The Port Townsend QFC hasn’t provided single-use plastic bags to customers since 2012, when the city of Port Townsend banned them. Because it is specified in the city ordinance, the Port Townsend store charges for paper bags.
Sequim’s QFC will continue to offer plastic bags for produce and meat, Lundstrom said.
Another part of QFC’s Zero Hunger/Zero Waste program, he said, includes donating to Food Lifeline five days a week, which supports agencies such as the Sequim Food Bank to prevent more food waste.
“Technically, it started in 2018, but we’ve been partnering for years,” Lundstrom said. “They pick up anything we can reasonably give away.”
Ban discussions
The Sequim City Council hasn’t voted on a plastic bag ban but did give the OK for council member Jennifer States to vote in favor of a bag ban recommendation from the Solid Waste Advisory Committee to Clallam County commissioners last May.
The recommendation would have been modeled after Port Angeles’ ordinance, which banned plastic bags last year.
Commissioners tabled discussions last year, so plastic bags remain allowed in unincorporated Clallam County.
City Manager Charlie Bush said city staff continue to monitor what’s happening in the state Legislature in Senate Bill 5323 that could ban single-use carry-out bags statewide at retailers. The proposed law would have retailers charge not less than 10 cents per bag, including for recycled paper and plastic bags, starting in 2020 to encourage people to bring their own bags and cut down on pollution.
Bush said the City Council “directed staff to send a letter to our state Legislature encouraging a bill to ban plastic bags.”
If the bill doesn’t pass, he said there would be more community discussion to determine a direction for the city.
“For now, we’re in wait-and-see mode,” Bush said.
Both state Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, and state Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, previously told the Peninsula Daily News they support a ban on plastic carry-out bags.
Kroger Co. has said it plans to stop distributing single-use bags completely by 2025 across its chains in 35 states. The phase-out is starting with Seattle-based supermarket chain QFC.
NPR has reported that more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. every year and that the plastic can end up in waterways, where it breaks down into very small particles known as microplastics. NPR said that microplastics have been found in drinking water, beer, sea salt, fish and shellfish.
________
Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
PDN Executive Editor Leah Leach contributed to this story.
