The Swedish times are a-changin’

Staci

Last week I was in Minneapolis for a work meeting and managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the Swedish home furnishing giant, IKEA® .

I love IKEA—and have since the early 1990s. Like many recent college grads, my first apartment in Washington, D.C., was outfitted with its affordable, flat-pack, put-it-together-yourself furniture. My fellow congressional staffers speculated that the word IKEA was really Swedish for "particle board." (I know now that's not the case .)

Whenever I go to an IKEA store, there are a few constants:

• There are always screaming children in the supervised play area/ball pit, which I refer to affectionately as "pinkeye land."
  
  
• There are always screaming children in the showroom, restaurant, and marketplace, even on a Tuesday afternoon.
  
  
• I always leave with at least one yellow and blue plastic bag full of reasonably priced, Swedish-designed merchandise.

This particular trip, however, was different. After I made my way through the self-serve warehouse, I noticed that something had changed: The plastic shopping bags had moved from the end of the checkout line to the beginning. That's because IKEA is asking its customers to help them reduce plastic bag usage by 50%  and now charges five cents per bag. The proceeds will be donated to the American Forests  conservation organization to restore forests and help offset U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Personally, I wish more stores would follow IKEA's lead. Let's face it—we can all talk about recycling and protecting our environment, but unless it hits us directly in our pocketbooks, how likely are we to take action?

Fortunately for me, I already had one of IKEA's $1.49 polypropylene-striped beach totes in my cart. And IMHO, it's even better than a plastic shopping bag, because I can sling it over my shoulder and still have two free hands to eat a $1 cinnamon roll on my way out the door. :)