Peapod: Largest User of Plastic Bags in History?
There are so many things I love about Peapod. One, I don't have to wait in grocery-store lines anymore. Two, the Peapod people are fantastic. Three, the deliveries are painless and easy to schedule. Four, the Web-shopping interface is easy to navigate.
Yet one important consideration falls in the minus column, and that's Peapod's uncanny insistence on wrapping virtually everything in its own plastic bag. It's as if the Peapod people have to fill a quota of plastic-bag use, as if the employee handbook had a rule that reads: Any employee found to have used fewer than 100 plastic bags per delivery shall receive a formal reprimand signed by the Regional Manager.
I've provided a photo above to illustrate the Peapod plastic bag crush. The context here is that individuals with whom I am familially associated ordered a processed Pillsbury bread product. Well, that product alone occupied an entire plastic bag on our last delivery, as shown in the photo. It wouldn't be worth noting if it were an aberration, but it's not. Over the weeks, we've gotten single containers of yogurt, single cucumbers, single everything---each wrapped in its own plastic bag. Prior to a Peapod delivery, we must be sure to clear out some space to may way for the colony of plastic bags that we gain.
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Linked From: November 24th, 2009Peapod Listens to its Customers - City Desk - Washington City Paper
11:39 am[...] background: In a post last week, I noted how Peapod was using more plastic bags than could ever be environmentally excusable, and [...]
12:16 pm
We’ve heard loud and clear that our customers would much prefer that we not use plastic bags. We’d love to be able to do so but here are our challenges:
• Plastic bags enable us to safely separate household chemicals from food products.
• Plastic bags hold up under moisture much better than paper and cardboard.
• Plastic bags make it easier for the drivers to deliver in an organized and efficient manner. Unloading groceries manually from delivery containers would be time consuming for our drivers. We would have to double the number of trucks on the road to service our current level of demand. This would be costly and add more emissions to our environment.
• Reusable shopping bags need to be washed http://sbne.ws/r/Uws. Yeast, mold and bacteria can fester in the bags and contaminate food. Unfortunately, providing a laundry service would add significant cost to our operations.
• Cardboard boxes generate even more packaging material for recycling than plastic bags.
As we continue to brainstorm alternatives to plastic bags, we’ve taken the following steps to reduce the negative “footprint” associated with use of plastic bags:
• We are working with our personal shoppers to reduce the number of bags they use when they shop orders.
• We accept our plastic bags back for recycling. If you are not already doing so, please give your bags back to your driver. (East Coast customers may also return bags to their local Stop & Shop or Giant.) Depending on where you live, the bags are recycled for different uses.
• If you are on the East Coast, the bags are recycled along with those of customers in our sister companies, Giant and Stop & Shop. Click here for the full details on what happens to your recycled bags: http://tinyurl.com/psrq42
12:40 pm
God, that's a great response. Masterpiece of corporate PR, and I mean that genuinely.
1:05 pm
Looks like Elana already beat me to it, but it's worth repeating: Peapod drivers will also pick up your old bags to recycle (but yeah, I'm also tired of all the waste).
Also: Please, if you use Peapod, tip the driver. They don't get many tips, tipping is made quite easy on the form you sign when you get the groceries, the drivers are always professional, and it's just polite to do so.
3:05 pm
Yes, we always tip the driver. Thanks to Elana, too, for the response. Should have called you first!
3:10 pm
Hey why doesnt peapod just offer to pick up old bags and recycle them? Its on the way so to speak.
I dont see them as the problem more of a lack of recycling.
This is why the DC counsel has gone from reduce reuse recycle to tax ban and regulate
7:09 pm
Wellll, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but recycling their customers' plastic bags is the least they could do. But really that's just generating new plastic products. We really should aim to be REDUCING the amount of plastic we use.
Why don't they ask for a one time deposit of x amount of dollars which purchases two sets of boxes made out of stainless steel or plastic, the kind that can be power washed at a high temp. That way, the customer always has one set in their house/apartment (maybe it can fold to a small size), which they then hand over at the next delivery? The "box" can be like a crate or half crate.
8:32 am
I love peapod, keep up the great work!
8:59 am
I like Fred's idea. Very similar to the deal our CSA has. Each week our produce is delivered in a big basket. The next week, when we get our new shipment in another basket, we had off the old one. Very simple and there is no waste involved.
9:18 am
Nothing beats walking to Traitor Joe's with your backpack & walking back with a full backpack.
Do you know why he's called Traitor Joe? Because he's a traitor to the capitalist class of businessmen, by selling excellent products at fair prices.