Whole Foods & The Wooden Nickel

In an effort to further its mission against plastic bags and to promote the reuse of existing bags, Whole Foods has brought back its Wooden Nickel program, which donates five cents for every bag that you reuse to a local charity of your choice. Five cents may be a small number, but in large doses it can have an effect of duality on both the surrounding community and the environment itself. By reducing the consumption of paper bags (the company banned plastic bags earlier this year), Whole Foods hopes to serve as an example for other retailers by inspiring simple, yet powerful, change.

Every store is different. Some spotlight charities that are focused on poverty; others feature environmentally conscious organizations. Some stores may not even offer the program, or at least not yet. Of course, the Wooden Nickel program isn’t entirely new. In fact, it was around at the company’s relatively newly acquired Wild Oats long before Whole Foods had become the place to go for all things green, healthy, and organic.

Whole Foods’ Wooden Nickel program is a perfect illustration of how people can be encouraged in entirely positive ways to promote entirely positive social and environmental change. By reducing the impact of the bags that we use to carry things from A to B, we prevent congestion in landfills from an endless swarm of plastic bags and help to reduce the need to utilize the effective but inefficient process of recycling paper to keep ourselves in check with the environment. Plus, reusable bags are often stronger than their paper or plastic counterparts - a definite plus for anyone with an addiction to watermelons and cartons of soy-milk. Next time you’re at the check out, no matter the store, reach for a reusable bag. The world will thank you later.