Submitted: The Two Sides Team April 25, 2016

To coincide with Earth Day, the sportswear giant Adidas announced it is removing plastic shopping bags from thousands of the company’s global retail stores, a move that will eliminate usage of about 70 million bags per year.​ 

The switch to paper bags will be implemented immediately, with Russia and Kazakhstan following in June 2016.   

Additionally, over the last year, the adidas Group has worked closely with its partners, resulting in the vast majority of its franchisees committing to paper bags by the end of June 2016.  

“Plastic bags are always a problem because they aren’t a renewable resource. They are trash,” James Carnes, Adidas vice president of global brand strategy, told Fortune. “Good plastics have the potential to be reused but plastic bags are bad plastics.”

The transition to paper bags means every year the adidas Group will eliminate approximately 70 million plastic shopping bags across more than 14,000 retail stores globally. This translates to 3 million plastic shopping bags in the United States and more than 2 million plastic bags in Germany.

For additional information on the adidas Group 2020 Sustainability Strategy, please visit www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/sustainability-news/2016/adidas-group-launches-new-sustainability-strategy-publishes-2015/. 

Share this story