I shopped at Publix yesterday and looked over the vast number of check-out lanes.  EVERY single cart, in EVERY lane was filled with single-use plastic bags.  Before the bagging person saw my own shopping bags they immediately, without asking, started bagging my groceries in plastic.  99% of that sea of brown plastic bags leaving your store daily winds up in the streets, waterways or landfill.  How many do you use each day in your 800+ stores in Florida alone?

Light-weight, single-use plastic bags become easily airborne and wind up polluting our streets and waterways.  Look around, you see them everywhere. Thousands of marine animals and over a million birds die each year after eating or becoming entangled in plastic.  We even eat small amounts of plastic that find their way into our food chain. The average plastic bag is used for only 12 minutes and takes 500+ years to degrade in landfill. 

Publix, please do what you say.  COMMIT TO REDUCING PLASTIC BAG USE BY SIMPLY NOT USING THEM!  You are one of the 10th largest supermarket chains in the US.  Please be a role model and positive influence.  Live up to your own mission statement- "Green isn't just our color its our commitment."