PriceSmart has taken its environmental awareness campaign one step further. The company has replaced single-use plastic bags at the check-out counter with the increasingly popular reusable blue bag. This is their way of helping to protect the environment.

PriceSmart says while it recognises that single-use plastic bags are convenient and, over the years, have become a standard practice in most retail stores throughout the world, the company is also aware of the tremendous amount of waste these bags cause. All 25 PriceSmart locations have been distributing over 90,000,000 single-use plastic bags per year, creating 750 tons of plastic waste that communities need to deal with.

Damage to the environment

Company president, José Luis Laparte, in a letter to members, points out, "in addition to the waste these bags generate, we also recognise the damage to the environment that these plastic bags are causing. Starting with the toxic chemicals used to produce the bags, the hundreds of thousands of marine animals that die each year by ingesting these bags, all the way through to the overflowing landfills storing plastic bags that take hundreds of years to degrade."

According to Mr Laparte, "it is no secret that eliminating single-use plastic bags will reduce PriceSmart's operating expenses. One of the company's business philosophies is that we pass on our lower costs to our members. This pricing philosophy has served us well and you can be assured that when our costs decrease so do our prices. To demonstrate this to our members, we will continue to work towards offering the lowest prices in the market."

Durable

The reusable blue bag that is being sold in all PriceSmart locations is a durable and outstanding alternative to single-use plastic bags. "We are selling these bags at a pack of four for $329 and they can also be used for your shopping trips to supermarkets and other stores. If you already purchased a reusable bag from another source you are welcome to use that at PriceSmart."