Sunday will be a double discount day at the East End Food Co-op. Grocery items won't be marked down, but shoppers will save more than usual if they bring in their own bags. The Point Breeze store usually subtracts 10 cents from a total order for each bag that's carried in and filled up. "For Earth Day," membership services manager Kara Holsopple said, "it will be 20 cents." The co-op has offered discounts for years to cut down on plastic bag use and sells canvas bags for shoppers to store at home or in car trunks. Supermarkets and other large retailers in the Pittsburgh area are promoting reusable bags, recycling more plastic bags and -- in one case -- charging extra for the fluttery, petroleum-based sacks widely seen as a drain on resources and an environmental hazard. In March, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to require larger supermarkets and chain drug stores to switch to biodegradable plastic bags or paper bags, starting in six months. Los Angeles, Austin and some other Western cities are looking at similar moves. Each year, Giant Eagle stores pack groceries in about 527 million plastic bags. Most locations also carry paper bags, and customers in urban areas often like their items double-bagged in paper, inside plastic, because of the handles. The O'Hara-based supermarket chain started selling sturdier, plastic composite bags for 99 cents in January that have proven popular. And under an expanded recycling program, 99 of its 155 corporate-owned stores are collecting returned bags -- with 100 percent participation expected by July 1. "In 2006, we successfully recycled one million pounds of bags," said Nancy Day, the chain's recycling and solid waste manager. "And this year, we expect to double what we recycle," partly because many stores add shrink wrap and other plastic film packaging to the shipments that go to two companies: Trex Industries in Winchester, Va., and Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies Inc., in Arkansas. Both companies use the plastic to make composite lumber products that are used in decks, park benches and buildings. "There is a hot market right now for plastic film," said Jim Lampl, Giant Eagle's director of conservation, and while recycling brings revenue, the company's main purpose is to reuse materials that otherwise would be discarded. "It's a valuable resource, why waste it?" he said. Composite lumber, in fact, is used in the new plastic bag collection bins being installed in the vestibules of Giant Eagle stores -- 20 so far, with 30 more bins on order. "We are being very aggressive -- we're just in the startup stages," Lampl said. Shop 'n Save and Foodland stores, meanwhile, are independently owned and run various recycling programs, Supervalu Inc. spokeswoman Rebekah Fawcett said. Whole Foods Market, in East Liberty, has sold more than 12,000 grocery tote bags with seasonal, fun designs since it opened two years ago. The 24-inch-high bags cost $1, although customers get a 5-cent credit for any bag they bring in, spokeswoman Sarah Kenney said. The totes blend a great marketing tool with an environmental initiative. And in contrast to San Francisco's plastic bag ban, "Our sense is that if you provide appealing options, customers will change their behavior," she said. Trader Joe's, which opened in October in East Liberty, sells three bag styles ranging from 99 cents to more than $2, and the chain hopes to expand that to five by summer. Customers who bring bags can enter drawings to win baskets of groceries or gift certificates. Housewares retailer IKEA, with a store in Robinson, last month started charging customers 5 cents for each plastic bag used to pack their purchases. Its reusable Big Blue Bags sell for 59 cents, down from 99 cents. "The results are exceeding expectations," which were to cut plastic bag use by 50 percent, spokeswoman Mona Liss said, although the company won't release statistics for six months or so. Victoria Khersonsky, of Mt. Lebanon, said she likes IKEA's policy as she left the store Friday with twins Katya and Anya, 18 months, and a Blue Bag filled with items. Packing items in single-use plastic bags can be wasteful, she said. "I always do reuse them, to throw a diaper in or whatever. This forces people to reuse bags." Additional Information:

A handle on facts

Some statistics about plastic bags: &#149 Americans carry home purchases in, or otherwise use, more than 100 billion plastic bags each year. &#149 The typical plastic bag costs 1 to 2 cents vs. 6 to 8 cents for a paper bag with a handle and 8 to 10 cents for a compostable plastic bag. &#149 About 50 communities in California have started curbside recycling of plastic bags, with the program expected to expand. Source: Society of the Plastics Industry.

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