The big question at the check-out used to be paper or plastic. Now the question is where to recycle those plastic bags?

Customers like Joanna Voisine go to Bashas’ “Three times a week and if I have bags I bring them back”, says Joanna.

Richard Rodriguez with Bashas’ adds, “There was a big customer demand for it. There’s a lot of people thinking ‘green’ right now. With that being said, we kind of responded to what the customers were looking for and it’s good for the environment”.

While customers like Joanna are able to bring their plastic bags to any Bashas’ in Southern Arizona, the city of Tucson wants to make it mandatory that grocery stores in the city have recycling bins for them.

Wilson Hughes with the City of Tucson says, “We want the citizens to know that all the stores are on board with this.”

While the city wants people to recycle their plastic bags, they’re also preaching awareness. “The idea is to get people to realize that you don’t need to get a plastic bag with one box of doughnuts in it to carry that home and then throw it away,” says Wilson.

It won’t be long before other Tucson stores like Bashas’ have recycle bins for those plastic bags. Wilson says, “They expect to have an ordinance ready by the end of January. Then they’ll vote on that and we’ll get a program established here if they give the go-ahead”.

Richard adds, “I’ve attended some of those meetings and quite frankly I think it’s going to pass.”

This makes customers like Joanna happy. “I’m not a green fanatic or anything. I just think that it’s a good thing to do and I don’t want them to go in a landfill.”