Popular second-hand fashion retailer Buffalo Exchange has always been an advocate of the environment. And now, the chain of 47 stores plans to discontinue all orders of disposable plastic bags. This action is expected to keep an estimated 350,000 bags out of landfills every year.
“The large majority of our customers will understand that this is a move that is being made in the interest of our environment and that it is intended to begin changing the way we think about how we use disposable products in our everyday lives,” says Kerstin Block, President and Founder of Buffalo Exchange.
If you’re like me, a regular shopper and trader of Buffalo Exchange, you may be wondering about the company’s Tokens for Bags program, which is a generous fund-raising effort that gives customers the incentive to opt out of using a plastic bag to haul their purchase by offering them a token instead, valued at five cents, that they can then donate to one of several local charities.
Tokens for Bags has generated over $420,000 for hundreds of local nonprofit organizations since 1994, and even though Buffalo Exchange is going bag-less, the program will not go away. In fact, any customer who brings in her own reusable bag (as I always do) or walks out with her purchase bundled in her arms will still receive a token to donate.
“These local charities bring immense value to our communities through environmental protection, animal rescue, and in other ways,” says Block, “and they have served as incredible community partners. The Tokens for Bags program will continue to provide a fund-raising channel for our community partners and at the same time will thank our customers for living in a socially – and environmentally – responsible manner.”
What do you think about Buffalo Exchange going bag-less? I think it’s a great idea, but I’ve been relying on my own reusable shopping bags for years now, especially when I’m shopping second-hand. Do you have a collection of reusable shopping bags? If not, use the widget below to shop for them.
