Paper or plastic? Most Indianapolis shoppers choose least environmentally friendly bags

Paper or plastic — we all know the question. It conjures images of conveyor belts, sounds of beeps as items are scanned and maybe even smells of fresh mint as you wait in line near the packs of gum.

Here at IndyStar, we wanted to know how Hoosiers across Indianapolis and surrounding areas answered that question.

Plastic pollution is a big problem — huge, even — and plastic bags are a big piece of that. Across the globe, people use as much as 5 trillion plastic bags each year. That’s over 700 per year for every person on the planet, according to The World Counts, an organization that pulls data from a variety of sources. Even more, it’s estimated that each plastic bag is used for only 12 minutes, on average.

In an effort to cut back on plastic, environmental groups have continued to push for reusable items: reusable water bottles, straws, food storage containers and, of course, bags.

So just how are people across the city packaging their grocery items? Have they latched onto reusable bags, are they stuck on plastic, or are they meeting in the middle with paper? We did a little study of our own to find out.

And there was a clear winner: Plastic rules the day.

To do this study, IndyStar visited a dozen different grocery stores or stores that sell food in various neighborhoods across the city. We went to Kroger, Meijer, a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods as well as Saraga in areas across the north, south, east and west sides of the city.

The survey was done over the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and the week after. We spent one hour at each location, counting the number of shoppers exiting the store with each type of bag.

Then we tallied them up. It was that simple. In total, we counted nearly 1,800 shoppers across all locations.

The stores kind of broke down into three groups: Stores where both paper and plastic are available but plastic is more emphasized, stores with both but paper is more visible, and stores where plastic bags are not an option.

The specifics of each store we visited are included below, but are are some of the main overall findings:

• In the first category of stores, where paper bags are hard to find, most shoppers chose plastic. And by most, that means nearly 96% of more than 1,100 people. Less than 5% combined used either reusable or paper bags or just hand-carried a couple items out with no bags.

• In the second group of stores, where paper is more visible, the majority of shoppers still went with plastic. While more people did choose paper — about 15% of 200 people — close to three-quarters still used plastic bags.

• Not surprisingly, the largest number of paper bags were used at the third category of stores, those where plastic is not available. At those locations, nearly 72% of shoppers went with paper while just 14% walked out with reusable bags.

• Regardless of the type of store, very few people shopped with reusable bags. Looking across all roughly 1,800 shoppers at the dozen stores, only 4% used a reusable bag while shopping. In fact, more people hand-carried their items out without any bag at all — still a sustainable option.

Nearly a dozen states — including Connecticut and Washington — and more than 200 counties and municipalities across the country have enacted bans on disposable bags or passed ordinances that impose a fee on using plastic bags.

Indiana, on the other hand, has joined several other states in taking a different approach: They have placed a ban on banning plastic bags.

In 2016, Indiana legislators passed a bill that prohibited city and county officials from taxing or restricting the use of disposable plastic bags by grocery stores and other retailers. The bill came about after the city of Bloomington began considering a ban on plastic bags.

While plastic bags are here to stay in Indiana — at least for the time being — there still are ways to keep as many of them out of landfills, waterways and the environment as possible. These disposable plastic bags can, in fact, be recycled — but not in the usual blue bin.

Instead, these bags have to be taken to a drop-off point at big-box stores. Residents can find nearby stores that accept bags here: https://bagandfilmrecycling.org/

Plastic bags don’t do well in generalized recycling facilities because they gum up the machines. But more facilities equipped to recycle plastic film, like bags, are popping up and being expanded. A lot of recycled plastic bags are used to make more plastic bags, but new companies are also growing and coming up with new uses. These bags are now being used to manufacture “plastic lumber” that is used, for instance, to build park benches, fences and more.

Here is the breakdown of all the stores we visited:

• Kroger at 7272 Fishers Crossing Dr, Fishers 46038 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 198 shoppers visited the store: 184 used plastic, 3 used paper bags, 2 used reusable bags, 8 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Kroger at 4202 S East St, Indianapolis, 46227 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 92 shoppers visited the store: 87 used plastic, 2 used paper bags, 0 used reusable bags, 2 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Kroger at 4445 E 10th St, Indianapolis, 46201 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 150 shoppers visited the store: 144 used plastic, 0 used paper bags, 1 used reusable bags, 5 hand carried their items and 0 used a combination of different bag types.

• Saraga at 3605 Commercial Drive, Indianapolis, 46222 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 194 shoppers visited the store: 190 used plastic, 0 used paper bags, 0 used reusable bags, 3 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Meijer at 5550 N Keystone Ave, Indianapolis, 46220 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 200 shoppers visited the store: 189 used plastic, 1 used paper bags, 5 used reusable bags, 5 hand carried their items and 0 used a combination of different bag types.

• Meijer at 11351 E Washington St, Cumberland, 46229 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 197 shoppers visited the store: 190 used plastic, 0 used paper bags, 3 used reusable bags, 4 hand carried their items and 0 used a combination of different bag types.

• Walmart Neighborhood Center at 5550 E Fall Creek Pkwy N Dr, Indianapolis, 46226 (category: plastic emphasized). A total of 98 shoppers visited the store: 98 used plastic, 0 used paper bags, 0 used reusable bags, 0 hand carried their items and 0 used a combination of different bag types.

• Needler's Fresh Market at 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, 46204 (category: paper visible). A total of 128 shoppers visited the store: 87 used plastic, 21 used paper bags, 3 used reusable bags, 16 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Fresh Thyme at 6301 N College Ave, Indianapolis, 46220 (category: paper visible). A total of 76 shoppers visited the store: 58 used plastic, 8 used paper bags, 3 used reusable bags, 6 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Market District at 11505 Illinois St, Carmel, 46032 (category: no plastic). A total of 156 shoppers visited the store: 0 used plastic, 120 used paper bags, 20 used reusable bags, 13 hand carried their items and 3 used a combination of different bag types.

• Whole Foods at 320 E Market Street, Indianapolis, 46204 (category: no plastic). A total of 109 shoppers visited the store: 0 used plastic, 62 used paper bags, 10 used reusable bags, 36 hand carried their items and 1 used a combination of different bag types.

• Trader Joe's at 5473 E 82nd St, Indianapolis, 46250 (category: no plastic). A total of 148 shoppers visited the store: 0 used plastic, 115 used paper bags, 26 used reusable bags, 4 hand carried their items and 3 used a combination of different bag types.

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStar’s environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Paper or plastic bags? Indianapolis shoppers' preferences revealed