An iconic piece of the Apple Store shopping experience is about to change. Starting later this month, Apple will begin phasing out the white plastic drawstring bags bearing an Apple logo that customers use to carry their new toys out to their car, and will begin replacing them with more environmentally friendly paper bags.
Apple will make the move from from their iconic plastic bags to paper bags made of 80% recycled materials. Apple says it’s another step toward their goal of leaving the world “better than we found it.” Employees will also be adopting a new policy of asking customers if they would like a bag, instead of automatically supplying one.
Apple informed their employees about the move in a note, which was obtained by 9to5Mac.
We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. One bag at a time. So on April 15, we’ll switch to paper shopping bags made from 80 percent recycled materials. These bags come in medium and large.
When customers are buying a product, ask if they need a bag. They may decide they don’t. And you’ll encourage them to be even more environmentally friendly.
If you still have plastic bags in stock, use them before you switch to the new paper bags.
Apple will officially begin using the paper bags on April 15th, however, the note tells stores to continue to use the plastic bags until their supply is exhausted. At that point, we don’t know what the new bags will look like. We’ll update this post when we do.
Apple has long worked to minimized their environmental footprint, using renewable power for their operations when possible, minimizing packaging size for its products, and using two-thirds recycled content in their packaging, while the remaining amount comes from sustainable supplies.
