Giant Eagle will donate money from the sale of paper bags at its Pittsburgh stores to local nonprofits.
This is set to start on Saturday, the same date Pittsburgh’s plastic bag ban goes into effect. The ordinance bars most single-use plastic bags and requires stores charge a 10-cent fee for paper bags.
The fee is meant to help business recoup the costs of paper bags, which can be pricier than plastic, and to encourage people to bring reusable bags instead, officials have said.
Giant Eagle, based in O’Hara, said it will donate 100% of the mandated 10-cent fee to organizations “focused on creating more livable neighborhoods and greener outdoor spaces,” including the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Riverlife, Allegheny Cleanways, Grow Pittsburgh and Tree Pittsburgh.
The initiative will be in place at all 14 Giant Eagle supermarkets, market districts and GetGo sites in the city, said Cara Mercil, Giant Eagle’s director of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
“We have been long invested in our communities,” Mercil said. “It is something that is really core to our brand, but this is a new idea of being able to really invest at the neighborhood level and being able to give that money back. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Giant Eagle has committed to continuing to donate the 10-cent paper bag fees through the end of 2024, Mercil said. The grocery chain will then analyze the initiative’s impact and explore opportunities for expanding the program.
Donating money to nonprofits who help create more livable, greener communities keeps in the spirit of the plastic bag ban, which aims to reduce litter and reduce plastic waste, she said.
“We think it’s something we can do to be able to create stronger, better communities for us all,” she said.
Giant Eagle also sells reusable bags for 99 cents, she said, and encourages people to bring reusable bags.
“The generous reinvestment of paper bag fees from Giant Eagle will directly impact Pittsburgh’s neighborhood parks through beautification projects, the planting of restoration trees to improve the health of the urban tree canopy and through environmental education programs that will inspire the next generation of park stewards,” said Alana Wenk, director of advancement at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
The conservancy also will “activate parks that are in close proximity to local Giant Eagle locations,” she said.
Pittsburgh City Council approved the ban on single-use plastic bags in April 2022. The measure initially was set to go into effect a year later, but officials pushed back the implementation date till October, saying they needed more time to prepare for the change and launch outreach efforts to make people aware of the measure.
Local businesses have said they’re preparing for the new law by stocking up on paper and reusable bags.
City officials said they will not begin fining businesses who don’t comply with the regulation till January 1 to give them time to use down their existing plastic bag inventories and prepare for the transition to paper and reusable bags.
Related:
• Pittsburgh businesses, shoppers prepare for plastic bag ban
• Pittsburgh to ban plastic bags next year
• Experts join discussion about potential plastic bag ban in Pittsburgh
Julia Felton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Julia by email at jfelton@triblive.com or via Twitter .