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Say goodbye to plastic bags at Walmart—the company has set a goal to become zero-waste.
Although many people bring reusable plastic bags to the store these days, it's more likely than not that even the most environmentally conscious of consumers have had to grab a bag or two at checkout. In fact,100 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year.
Single-use plastic bags can have devastating consequences for the environment. Under 10% of plastic bags used in the U.S. are recycled, meaning that the rest end up contaminating soil, landfills, streets, oceans, and other natural habitats.
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Walmart has announced its partnership with Beyond the Bag, an initiative that explores reusable bag options and "reimagines" the plastic bag.
The initiative has launched the #BeyondtheBag challenge, which gave people a chance to share their own ideas concerning the matter. The challenge ran throughout the summer of last year and 9 winners were selected; each of those products now has the chance to be tested with funding from the initiative.
Between Walmart, Target, and CVS, $15 million has been poured into Beyond the Bag in order to come up with a brand-new bag design. Although a final replacement has yet to be decided in full, a more sustainable future lies ahead.