Maine Walmarts Are Going Bagless July 1st

CLARIFICATION: This article is referring to all Maine Walmarts going bagless as of July 1, 2021.

What? Walmart is going bagless? No bags at all? Yes.  

I have a friend who works in the Augusta, Maine store and I saw her post about it. This tested as a pilot program Walmart did in Vermont last year that sounds like it did well, so we should do well in Maine, too. 

From what I understand, there will be no bags in the Maine Walmart stores. I know some stores that are cutting back on using plastic bags have gone the route of having customers pay an extra fee for a bag if they need one. And I sure hope that that option for those of us like me who never seem to remember my bags — maybe for a little while. Starting next month, we will need to bring our own reusable bags, and if you are doing a pick up you will need to bring bags or a bin to place your items in. 

From what I have seen, I am not sure what the situation will be for delivery, but I imagine they will bring the items to your home and you will need to put them in your own bin to get them inside. 

I did take a peek at Walmart's corporate website and learned that only about 10% of plastic bags are recycled, and a plastic shopping bag has an average life span of 12 minutes. Let’s face it, Walmart is a colossal company; how many billions of bags do they use each year overall. Well, it turns out it is upwards of 20 BILLION. 

I can tell you the only plastic shopping bags that have come into my life that do not get reused for trash or dog bags is a bag that is torn or wet inside. So I, personally, am bummed by this decision, but I get it. I have not had to buy trash bags for my home for years since shopping bags have been my go-to.

I just wanted you to be aware of the situation and that as of July 1, things will be changing at your friendly, local Walmarts in Maine. Bring a bag, a bin, or whatever. Hey, I have been doing this sort of thing forever with Sam's Club, so we got this.