The author of a petition calling on Target to stop using plastic bags delivered more than 450,000 signatures to the company’s Minneapolis headquarters Thursday.
The Change.org petition was started earlier this year and demands that Target “stop filling the world with plastic bags.”
“We, Target customers, ask Target to eliminate plastic bags. We understand this won’t be convenient to us, but it is time to act. For those of us who also shop at Costco or IKEA, we know we can survive without plastic bags,” states the petition, which had 463,282 signatures at the time of publication.
The petition claims that two million single-use plastic bags are consumed every minute but argues that switching to paper “is not the answer.”
“If Target provides bags for purchase, we ask it to charge a meaningful amount because this approach works. Plastic bag use fell by 90 percent in Ireland following a plastic bag tax of 37 cents. In Australia, two major retailers led by eliminating plastic bags in their stores and the country reduced plastic bag use by 80 percent in three months. In Los Angeles county, a plastic bag ban with a charge on paper bags reduced single bag use by 95 percent. Target’s current five cent incentive for those bringing bags does not meaningfully curb Target’s plastic bag consumption,” the petition concludes.
The petition was started by Theresa Carter, a Minnesota-based mom who has since launched an organization called Customers Who Care. The mission of her organization is to “inspire retailers to stop contributing to plastic pollution and to pursue a green and sustainable future.”
“We estimate that Target hands out approximately a billion single use plastic bags per year. These billion bags never leave the earth. They eventually break down into microplastics that choke our oceans and land,” says the organization’s website.
Carter delivered her petition and signatures to Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis during a Thursday event.
https://twitter.com/AnthonySouffle/status/1210278875520995329
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Target Protest” by Anthony Soufflé.
