Despite an earlier pledge, Kroger has yet to eliminate single-use plastic bags

In 2018, Kroger announced it would eliminate single-use plastic bags from its stores by 2025. These types of bags are among the kinds of trash most frequently found in coastal cleanups and are often a subject of retailers’ initiatives to reduce plastic use.
In an editorial published in the Cincinnati Enquirer at the time, Kroger chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen wrote that the waste generated by these bags at its 2,700-plus stores would drop by 123 million pounds per year. “Our customers have told us it makes no sense to have so much plastic only to be used once before being discarded. And they’re exactly right,” McMullen wrote.
McMullen said such a major change could not happen overnight and that the seven-year timeframe would give customers plenty of time to adapt to a new way of shopping. The company, however, has yet to meet that goal. The plan would begin with Seattle-based division QFC, which eliminated single-use plastic bags in 2019.
As of Kroger’s latest environmental, social and governance report, the company said “more than 700” of its stores had switched to reusable bags but did not give a definitive date on when the bags may be fully removed. Kroger did not respond to requests for comment for this story and has not definitively confirmed whether or not it will eliminate single-use bags this year.
Other retailers — albeit much smaller ones — have implemented similar bag bans, either to reduce plastic or meet local requirements. Whole Foods eliminated plastic bags at all its stores in 2008. Trader Joe’s and Aldi did so in 2019 and 2023, respectively. Kroger and Walmart, among others, implemented removed single-use bags in states such as Colorado and New York that require it.
Kroger’s ESG report, published in November and covering January 2023 to February 2024, still listed phasing out single-use plastic bags as a goal with a target year of 2025. However, the company did not mark it as “on track” like other goals but instead as an “area of focus.”
The company also aims to increase the use of recycling in its private-label packaging and make it “recyclable, compostable and/or reusable” by 2030. Those goals are listed as “on track.” Kroger also has recycling programs for single-use shopping bags as well as dry cleaning bags, bread bags and overwrap packaging for products like diapers and water bottles.
Testing and gathering feedback
In the ESG report, the company said differences in state and local policies complicate the work to find scalable solutions to reduce single-use plastic bags. It did not include specifics on why that is. “We continue to explore how to achieve progress on this challenging topic across the company and in collaboration with others,” the company said in the report.
Over the last few years, the grocer conducted pilots in some stores to test bag alternatives and offer incentives to encourage customers to move away from single-use bags.
Kroger is part of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, an industry collaboration to reduce single-use bag waste managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Target, CVS Health, Dollar Tree, Meijer and Walmart are also part of the program. The group did its own reusable bag tests in 2023, assessing signage, marketing and prompts to push customers to build the habit of bringing their own bags. Kroger said two of its markets, Denver and Tucson, were part of the test.
“These tests have provided valuable insights and wide-ranging customer feedback that is affecting our pace of change and potential roadmap for phasing out single-use bags,” the company said in the report.
“Retailers have recognized that reducing plastic waste aligns with both regulatory pressures and consumer expectations,” said Ross Cloyd, a grocery analyst for research firm Kantar, adding that the pandemic shifted some of the grocers’ focus toward initiatives like pickup and delivery. “While the pandemic temporarily slowed progress for some, the trajectory remains clear: the industry is moving toward more sustainable practices, balancing operational realities with long-term environmental commitments.”
Holding companies accountable
Around a dozen states, including California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Maine and Hawaii, have implemented statewide plastic bag bans. Hundreds of municipalities, especially in the Northeast, West Coast and Hawaii, have local regulations in place.
“These regulations are a significant driver behind retailer action,” Cloyd said. “Many chains, such as Walmart, Wegmans and Trader Joe’s, have phased out plastic bags in states with bans and often extend those policies chain-wide for consistency. The regulatory momentum continues to build, reinforcing the industry-wide push toward plastic reduction and sustainable alternatives.”
Other major companies have recently walked back on previous environmental or sustainability commitments. Last month, Coca-Cola said it abandoned its previous pledge to reduce the use of virgin plastic between 2020 and 2025 and sell 25% of its beverages in refillable or returnable packaging by 2030. Walmart also said in December that, due to energy policy and infrastructure, it expects to miss its 2025 and 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets set in 2020.
“This has been a trend among companies for decades, a lot of talking the talk but not walking the walk,” Melissa Valliant, communications director for Beyond Plastics, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce plastic use — including both bags and other forms of packaging — and production through grassroots organizing, education, advocacy and policy changes. “They fall in line with a lot of companies that are not on track to meet the goals that they’ve set around reducing plastic.”
Valliant said the organization is more focused on pursuing policy measures to force plastic reduction measures than relying on retailers to make their own operational changes.
“At the end of the day, policy is what’s going to move us forward here, we can’t rely on companies to change when they’ve been doing the same thing for a half a century, and we’ve known for nearly half a century that this was a problem,” Valliant said. “It’s critical that our policymakers actually take meaningful action, hold companies accountable and require them to reduce the amount of plastic they’re using, and I’m not talking about recycling commitments.”