PRICESMART, the membership warehouse shopping club, no longer provides its customers with plastic bags for their goods, as part of an initiative the company said is to help prevent environmental degradation.

But some of PriceSmart’s mostly middle-class customers argue that even if the decision sounded noble, the big savings on plastic bags, cost-free disposal of carton boxes which are given to buyers who request it and the likely increase in sale of reusable ‘blue’ bags, were not lost on the company.

“It (savings) is one of the benefits, but it wasn’t the intention,” admitted one of the superstore managers on condition of anonymity. “It is a good move. Somebody has to start saving the environment. Even if we are not going to benefit, we have to do it for our children.”

PriceSmart Inc, he said, is implementing a similar initiative across all 26 stores in Central America and the Caribbean. In addition to dropping the plastic bags, it is also replacing in-store incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones; and constructing a waste water treatment plant, which is awaiting approval from the Jamaican regulatory authorities to be commissioned.

However, PriceSmart customers – who pay between US$30 and US$50 plus tax in annual membership fees – give the effort mixed reviews. They say it is commendable, but admit they feel inconvenienced and just a bit short-changed by it.

“I don’t like it. I prefer the plastic bags. I prefer to have my things covered. Mi just naked yah now. Even when yuh go home, everybody sees what you bought,” said Beverley Williams, pointing to her trolley of exposed goods in carton boxes.

At the same time, she said that while it was good for the environment, it was not so good for her pocket. It costs $189 for each of the reusable bags PriceSmart sells and $394 for a pack of four. The store – which the Environment Watch understands sells the bags at cost – was out of stock at press time.

“I can understand (the move) because the plastic bags are problematic. At the same time it was economical for us (shoppers) because we used it to dispose of garbage,” said Williams.

Melissa Gauntlett said that she, too, felt inconvenienced by the move.

“It depends on what you buy. I don’t think it’s a really good move. When you take a lot of stuff up, it is not convenient – and you have to buy bags,” she said, noting the added cost to customers due to the initiative.

A man who gave his name only as “Brizzy” said PriceSmart, in the best interest of its customers – who are not averse to doing their part for the environment – should provide shoppers with a set of reusable bags, cost-free.

“We paid our membership. Each member should get a set of bags free and bring them when they shop. And if you forget the, then you buy one,” he told Environment Watch.

For her part, Sandra Gonzales said she felt customers had been given a too short notice of the initiative, which began on March 2.

“I know it is good for the environment, to stop using the plastic bags. In Jamaica, we don’t dispose of them properly so they end up in the sea,” she said. “But they shouldn’t have done it so sudden. They should have maybe put an ad in the paper or something. But I agree with the move.”

The manager said they had informed customers about the move ahead of time.

“It was sent out via e-mail, as well as the banners and signs have been up since last November,” he said.

Meanwhile, PriceSmart is not the only retail/wholesale outlet that is attempting such an initiative. Stores in Kingston and St Andrew – including Lee’s Food Fair and other Progressive Grocers supermarkets – provide their customers with biodegradable plastic bags, such as D2W, free of cost. A few of them also have on their shelves the reusable bags for sale.

It is not immediately clear how many plastic bags are used in Jamaica annually, but data from the US Environmental Protection Agency shows that between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed globally each year, according to a 2003 National Geographic News report.

As for the environmental hazards the bags present, they are well documented. Not only do bags find their way to the sea via drains and gullies, causing contamination and flooding of whole communities along the way, they also impact negatively on wildlife.

The 2005 World Wildlife Report notes that some 200 species of dolphins, seals, turtles and whales die because of plastic bags, which they ingest, having mistaken them for food. Other species, such as birds, die after being entangled by them.