Say goodbye to plastic bags at Walmart—the company has set a goal to become zero-waste.
Although many people bring reusable plastic bags to the store these days, it's more likely than not that even the most environmentally conscious of consumers have had to grab a bag or two at checkout. In fact,100 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year.
Single-use plastic bags can have devastating consequences for the environment. Under 10% of plastic bags used in the U.S. are recycled, meaning that the rest end up contaminating soil, landfills, streets, oceans, and other natural habitats.
Walmart has announced its partnership with Beyond the Bag, an initiative that explores reusable bag options and "reimagines" the plastic bag.
The initiative has launched the #BeyondtheBag challenge, which gave people a chance to share their own ideas concerning the matter. The challenge ran throughout the summer of last year and 9 winners were selected; each of those products now has the chance to be tested with funding from the initiative.
Between Walmart, Target, and CVS, $15 million has been poured into Beyond the Bag in order to come up with a brand-new bag design. Although a final replacement has yet to be decided in full, a more sustainable future lies ahead.