ELMHURST, IL – The corporate owner of Elmhurst's Mariano's grocery store promised nearly eight years ago to phase out the use of plastic bags.
The owner said it would finish the job by 2025. Patch reported the pledge in August 2018.
To this day, the supermarket still uses plastic.
In a March 2025 statement, Kroger, which owns Mariano's, acknowledged it would miss the deadline.
Kroger, the owner of several grocery store chains, said it would complete the project "over time," setting no specific deadline.
It blamed the delay on the high cost of paper bags to its business and the planet and customers' feedback from multiple pilot programs across the country.
The company also said the pandemic slowed its progress.
"We suspended our bag-related projects at that time to prioritize human health and food safety for our associates and customers during the pandemic," Kroger said.
By the end of 2024, 700 Kroger-operated stores had stopped providing plastic bags, according to the 2025 statement. Another 1,150 stores are in areas with plastic bag bans, the company said.
The Cincinnati-based chain runs more than 2,700 stores under a variety of names, according to its website.
Patch left an emailed message for comment Wednesday with Kroger's public relations department.
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