Ossining Stop & Shop: No More Reusable Bag Rebate

This article was reported and written by Michael Woyton and Krista Madsen.

Grocery shoppers in Ossining with their reusable bags in tow were surprised to find over the weekend that Stop & Shop was no longer giving back 5 cents per bag.

Stop & Shop New York Metro spokeswoman Arlene Putterman said Monday it was a regional policy decision to stop the rebate as a test.

"We had been doing it for years," she said of the 5-cent incentive, "but there's really not much changing on the meter.

"We feel the program has reached a plateau," Putterman said.

She said the company will be making a donation of $10,000 to the environmental group Connecticut Forest and Park Association and will still be encouraging people to reuse plastic bags.

A posting about the change on Ossining-Croton Patch's Facebook elicited this reaction from Jaymz Delisle: "That really sucks, me and my wife and mother-in-law shop there weekly and always bring re-usable bags, the 50 cents we save weekly help out on our grocery bill."

Some of our neighbors on Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch's Facebook page thought the blow might be lessoned with an equal and opposite approach: charge 5 cents per plastic bag. 

What do you think? Will this change impact you? Share here.