But You Eat Chicken, Right?

The first time that I set foot in the Pittsburgh Whole Foods, I was enchanted by the array of organic foods, cruelty free products, and most of all, the reusable canvas grocery bags. I was amazed that a store actually existed that cared about such things. Yes, I realize that Whole Foods has its faults, but for a small town, eco-conscious vegetarian, I had hit the mother load.

After considering the impracticality of driving to Pittsburgh for groceries, I decided that the next best option was to buy several canvas bags to use at home. That in itself was a huge step; even requesting paper bags in my local Kroger has been known to trigger death stares from baggers. Even so, I have carried my own canvas bags for the last several years.

Imagine my surprise when I was watching the local news after dinner tonight, and the broadcaster announced that Kroger will not only be offering reusable grocery bags for purchase in its stores, but that it will also offer a 0.05 refund per bag for customers who bring their own!

In an attempt to get more details, I went to the news station’s website. There was no link to the story there, and Google didn’t bring up any results either. I decided to call the store. Not surprisingly, the customer service associate had never heard that the company was offering reusable bags. According to her, I would have to “head up to Columbus” for that kind of store. Of course I would…

Further searching into the matter revealed that Kroger implemented their reusable bag program in 2005 in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina. The last time I checked, I was living in West Virginia on the verge of 2008.

I don’t know which is worse: the fact that there is so little going on here that the local news station feels compelled to use a three year old story and try to make it seem relevant here (which it clearly is not), or the fact that Kroger still has not implemented more environmentally friendly options locally.

I’m disappointed. What had seemed like a glimmer of hope turned out to be nothing more than a slow news day. Apparently, I will have to continue to hold out hope that Whole Foods will eventually open a store here.

Update: On tonight’s newscast, the story was retracted. It turns out that they were referring to a pilot program in Texas. Evidently, the person in charge of stories never checked it out. I guess I wasn’t the only person who was annoyed.