By Jonathan Balthaser
Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN -- Loretta Gendville didn’t want to become a bag lady.

But a law enacted last year required Gendville, owner of Brooklyn’s Area chain of children’s stores, to put out large containers to collect and recycle plastic bags. So the reluctant bag gatherer recently took a drastic step: she eliminated bags altogether.

“At first, my staff was really freaked out about the policy,� Gendville said. “The customers were hating it. Some people e-mailed me that they would stop shopping at my store entirely. But now most people know, and there are a lot of customers who are really into it.�

The Park Slope Food Coop announced its bag-less policy three years ago, and big box stores like Costco have required customers to carry out their own goods for years. However, only in recent months have a growing number of smaller stores latched onto the eco-friendly trend.

Area, which has multiple locations in Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, fell under the state Plastic Bag Reduction, Reuse and Recycling Act, which requires even small retail chains to collect plastic bags. So Gendville decided she would switch to selling only environmentally friendly reusable bags – and began encouraging customers to carry out their purchased items with no bag at all.

An estimated 2.8 billion plastics bags are used every year in New York City, comprising 2.87 percent of all residential trash. Statistics like this convinced Anne Proser, owner of Swallow, a fine glassware, ceramics and jewelry shop in Carroll Gardens, to start her own bag-less experiment in September. She cut bag usage by 90 percent.

“I used to run a natural food store in California, and there was definitely that ethos of ‘bag is bad,’� she said. “It’s one small thing we can do.�

Proser sells reusable designer shopping bags at Swallow, where customers can purchase items like a human heart-shaped pewter paperweight or a delicate glass-blown butterfly for around $200. She offers the designer shopping bags, known as Envirosax, at cost: $6. But she’ll toss in a sack for free if someone makes a large purchase. “They are way too expensive to give away,� she said.

Environmental concerns aren’t the only factor contributing to business owners’ thinking. Proser said her bag-less policy has been good for her pocketbook.

“It’s been a boon to my bottom line,� she said.

Genville said the policy has proven a smart decision financially for her as well – with some caveats. “It definitely has saved us a couple thousand dollars a year to not buy bags, but I’ve definitely lost sales due to it,� she said. “If they are flipping out, I will give them a bag. I’ll give them a garbage bag if they insist.�

Papa Hasn’t Got a Brand New Bag

At the Park Slope Food Coop, general manager Joe Holtz reports a positive reaction to the policy. “We didn’t lose any members from making this change,� he said.

Though he’s thrilled with the program’s success, Holtz said there are still things that haven’t worked out.

“We haven’t solved the problem of what to do when someone wants to buy a handful of kumquats,� he sighs. “We still have rolls of bags that people use for that.�

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