Your questions about Dillons’ planned plastic bag ban answered

Dillons parent company Kroger Co. plans to phase out the use of single-use plastic bags by 2025, it announced on Thursday morning.

But in Wichita, Dillons shoppers had questions about how exactly the transition would look.

What will the grocery store use instead? What about paper bags? What about plastic bags in the produce section?

And what exactly are we supposed to scoop the litter box contents into now?

Sheila Lowrie, a Dillons spokeswoman, said on Thursday morning that Wichita’s Dillons stores will be included in the transition, though she does not know exactly when the change will happen locally.

She stressed that customers will have plenty of time to transition and that the company will be welcoming customer feedback about the change.

“It’s a big change for our company, and for our customers, but one we know will help better protect our planet for future generations,” Lowrie said in a news release. “We want to give our customers time to transition to a new way of doing things, and we want to take the time necessary to solicit customer feedback and work with our partners to determine the most sustainable, long-term replacement for single-use plastic bags.”

Contacted later, Lowrie said that Dillons will continue to sell its reusable bags, just like it does now, and will also encourage people to bring their own reusable bags.

The company is still not sure how it will deal with the plastic bags that people use in the produce section for things like vegetables and fruits.

“It can be a complicated issue with produce bags, but we’ll be reviewing,” she said.

As for paper bags, she said, the company doesn’t have a definitive plan for those but will “review paper bags” during the transition.

“We firmly believe reusable bags are the best solution,” she said.

After the announcement on Thursday morning, local shoppers were either celebrating or questioning the decision.

On Facebook, several said they hoped other stores followed suit and wondered why banning plastic bags had taken so long.

Others were lamenting that they were about to lose the bags they use as trash-can liners or litter box scooping receptacles. One even suggested hoarding them while Wichita waits for Dillons to implement its plan locally.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 10:39 AM.