Smith’s Food and Drug Stores announced plans to phase out single-use plastic bags in all of their stores by the year 2025.
All Smith’s locations, including Kimball Junction and Heber City will switch to reusable bags.
The Salt Lake Headquartered Smiths, a division of Kroger, says they plan to solicit customer feedback and work with NGO’s and community partners to ensure a responsible transition.
The official statement also stated that 100 billion single-use plastic bags are thrown away in the U.S. every year, with less than five percent of plastic bags recycled in the U.S.
In May 2017 Park City Municipal was the first town in Utah to ban plastic bags. The ban targets grocery stores over 12,000 square feet defined as Large Grocery. The ban currently impacts Fresh Market, the market at Park City and Rite Aid.
During the 2018 Utah State Legislative session Senator Gregg Buxton of Roy introduced a bill that would restrict Park City from banning plastic bags. Utah lawmakers in the House of Representatives blocked these efforts, keeping Park City’s plastic bag ban in place.