Let me preface this with the fact that I am pro-environementally friendly initiatives and I usually have my backpack with me the first couple of days of my trips so that I can get my shopping out of the way and not have to carry around a plastic bag in my hands all day (and those are the days that I usually bring my big camera before minimizing everything the last couple of days of my trip). I do appreciate that, in addition to offering the reusable bags, their next question when I was there this week was whether I needed a bag at all (in the past, it seemed purchases were slapped in a bag before I had a chance to decline).
That said, even if they may have tentative plans to stop the use of plastic bags, I would be shocked if that plan ever goes through for several reasons:
- A sufficient percentage of customers will probably be inclined to forego purchases instead of having to pay a bag surcharge every time they want to buy something at the parks (particularly when multiple purchases means the original bag you bought isn't big enough for all your stuff and you have to buy yet another bigger one now to hold the smaller one(s)).
- It's a noble effort to try to decrease plastic use waste (side note - I noticed several places this past week that still have plastic straws readily available), but aside from good intentions and good PR, I don't think they will let the policy impact their bottom line.
- Reusable bags aren't for everybody: unless you actually plan to reuse them many times over, the environmental impact is far worse per bag than the plastic ones you usually get. Canvas bags have to be reused 171 times to be more eco-friendly than plastic; cotton is over 200 times; the best polypropylene bags (which is probably what the Disney bags are) need to be reused 11 times to be more eco-friendly. Personally, all the plastic bags I get from Disney, the grocery store, or whatever either get used as trashcan liners, kitty litter bags, or deposited in a bin for use at the local food pantry. My collection of reusable bags goes into a stack in a closet, where I never think about them again until they are in the way enough to just be tossed. I tend to get at least one reuse out of regular bags (for tasks that I would otherwise have to purchase plastic bags for anyway) and zero reuses out of reusable bags. I applaud those that reuse bags religiously, but I would hazard a guess that there are a lot more people that, despite their best intentions, simply aren't going to get enough use out of the reusable bags to justify them as their only option. Eleven is not a lot of times to reuse something, but for a standard consumer, forcing the reusable bag that they won't reuse is environmentally like charging them $2 and throwing away 11 single use plastic ones.
In short, between the fact that forcing reusable bags on people that won't reuse them is actually worse for the environment and the fact that forcing the issue will likely negatively impact Disney's bottom line, I don't think they will ever do more than cut down the use of the plastic.
And I was asked a few times if I needed a bag....
