Macy’s green initiatives include recyclable shopping bags

Paper or plastic is no longer just a choice for the grocery store. Cincinnati-based Macy’s, Inc. is now using recycled paper shopping bags at its Macy’s stores, as well as biodegradable packaging in its online shipments. Macy’s is replacing those shiny, laminated, handled shopping bag with ones made from kraft paper with 30 percent recycled material. The new bag also is 100 percent recyclable. The impact could be substantial — Macy’s uses more than 43 million handled shopping bags each year.

Macy’s direct-to-consumer businesses – macys.com, bloomingdales.com and Bloomingdale’s By Mail – is getting rid of the synthetic packing peanuts and is using in-the-box packing material that is 100 percent biodegradable, made from raw ingredients like pure corn and potato starch. Again, the move could have a big effect — Macy’s uses more than 3 million cubic feet of packing material each year. “We have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in improving the environment,” says Macy’s, Inc. Vice Chair Tom Cole. “And we will do so.” Also, by the end of the year, Macy’s will be hosting solar energy panels on more than 30 of its stores, primarily in California. Solar power, combined with energy efficiency projects, will reduce grid energy consumption by 40 percent in these stores.

Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Jim Sluzewski, Macy’s Inc.