Somers Stop & Shop: No More Reusable Bag Rebate

The story was reported and written by Michael Woyton.

Grocery shoppers in Somers with their reusable bags in tow were surprised to find over the weekend that Stop & Shop was no longer giving back 5 cents per bag.

Stop & Shop New York Metro spokeswoman Arlene Putterman said it was a regional policy decision to stop the rebate as a test.

"We had been doing it for years," she said of the 5-cent incentive, "but there's really not much changing on the meter.

"We feel the program has reached a plateau," Putterman said.

She said the company will be making a donation of $10,000 to the environmental group Connecticut Forest and Park Association and will still be encouraging people to reuse plastic bags.

A posting about the change on Yorktown-Somers Patch Facebook page brought out the comments. Regina MacKinnon Lerer wrote that she didn't think it wasn't much of an incentive anyway. 

"Maybe they should start charging people for plastic," Lori Moskowitz-Barr wrote. "They'll be using reusable bags in no time, five cents back for each bag or not."

Judith Miele wrote that she thinks the store should have kept the refund program going.

What do you think? Will this change impact you? Share here.