Grocery store prints embarrassing slogans on their bags to reduce plastic waste

A store in Vancouver, East West Market, is shunning the use of plastic in an unusual and fairly hilarious way.

The brand is printing embarrassing logos to discourage consumers away from single use plastic bags.

In an effort to encourage reusable alternatives, a Canadian grocery store is attempting to shame customers with embarrassing logos on their plastic bags.

Customers who don’t bring their own reusable bags with them will have to take their groceries home in bags that say ‘Wart Ointment Wholesale’, ‘The Colon Co-op’ or ‘Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium’.

This unusual tactic arose when a five-cent fee on single use bags failed to repel consumption.

The store then posted a video on social media highlighting the millions of plastic bags being discarded after one use in an attempt to break ignorant shopping habits. East West Market owner David Lee Kwen didn’t intend for the bags to embarrass the shoppers, saying “we wanted to give them something humorous, but also something that made them think at the same time.” 

However saving the environment isn’t going as planned, with many consumers buying the bags for the for hilarity. Kwen confesses to the plan going astray; “Some of the customers want to collect them because they love the idea of it.”

That said, Kwen remains positive the message is still getting across; “even if you have the bag, you have to explain its origin to your friends. And then, we’ve started a conversation.”

Since gaining so much popularity, the grocery store is now planning to do the same designs on canvas bags to match demand in a more environmentally friendlymanner.