"Our goal is to help raise awareness of Earth Day and to encourage the use of reusable bags," said President and CEO Carl Schlicker. "We reinvigorated our reusable bags about a year ago, with the ultimate goal of changing our customers’ reliance on plastic and paper bags. Customers have really responded to these bags, and we take five cents off each customer’s total order for every reusable bag a customer uses while shopping in order to encourage bag reuse. This also heightens customers’ awareness of the impact that plastic bags have on the environment and the hazard they present to wildlife."
From April 17 to April 23, customers purchasing $15 worth of participating General Mills products will receive five free reusable bags as they check out. This allows consumers to create their own "green checkout starter kit," as multiple bags are typically required for each shopping trip to the supermarket. Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover have special Earth Day-themed bags available to further highlight this promotion. The company is continuing to explore ways it can further reduce the use of paper and plastic.
Beginning April 17, Giant-Landover is also featuring large in-store displays of energy efficient Sylvania Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. "There are small steps we can all take to conserve energy," said Robin Michel, EVP and General Manager of Giant-Landover. "We believe that prominent displays of these energy efficient light bulbs will remind our customers that energy conservation can be easy and cost effective."