Seattleites slowly learning to BYOB — bring their own (shopping) bags

In place of a purse, Olivia Welke now carries a reusable shopping tote so she'll always have a bag for her groceries.

"I used to forget them at home all the time, but I started keeping them in my car," said the University of Washington student. "I think it's becoming a social norm to bring your bags."

Gone are the days, it seems, when pulling a reusable grocery bag from one's backpack was seen as the province of Birkenstock-wearing eco-extremists. If Referendum 1 passes on Aug. 18, such behavior may become more commonplace as many Seattle stores begin charging 20 cents for each disposable bag they provide at the checkout counter.

The goal is to get consumers instead to bring in their own reusable bags, and while some are resisting that, others — with the increasing help of stores — are already changing their ways.

As one social researcher puts it, they've been programming themselves to "do the right thing" at the right time until it becomes routine by putting their reusable bags near the garage door, in the trunk, on their passenger seats or in another equally handy and visible spot.

It's like flipping an internal switch, said social-change consultant Melissa Ganus of Seattle. "We're on automatic pilot so much of the time that we have to overwrite what's already there."

Mary Segesta of Queen Anne, a Microsoft team manager, usually carries her reusable bags in her car, but as the mother of a preschooler, she doesn't always have time to return the bag to the car right away. "My trick is to leave it by the door when it's empty," she said.

Antonella Bartell, who runs a home-based greeting-card business, keeps several bags in her car as well. "I never run out," she said. "I also keep a foldable one in my purse. Once it's all folded up, it takes no space at all."

Stores, too, are offering help — selling or donating inexpensive logo-emblazoned totes, offering shoppers remember-your-tote stickers to place on their steering wheel and putting up signs in parking lots reminding customers to bring in their bags.

"A bag in the hand is worth 2 in the car," reads one such sign at PCC Natural Markets, which eliminated plastic bags at its stores in October 2007.

The Seattle City Council passed the 20-cent charge last year, but opposition forces, backed by the American Chemistry Council, collected enough signatures to put the issue to voters.

Stores with annual revenues less than $1 million would keep the 20 cents to cover their costs, while those grossing more than that would keep 25 percent and pass the rest to the city.

The money would be used to promote and educate people about recycling.

The greater good

Typically, such "social-change campaigns" succeed not by being condescending or preachy but by appealing to a sense of responsibility and the greater good, said Ganus.

She points to two of the national agency Ad Council's best-known campaigns: "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," and "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk."

"If it has a feel-good catch to it, it's like, 'Look, I'm making a difference by doing this,' " Ganus said.

But social change can also be brought about not with a carrot but with a stick.

When the Transportation Security Administration demanded everyone remove their shoes before passing through security portals post 9/11, people grumbled. But they did it.

Sometimes, the stick looks a lot like peer pressure — particularly from shoppers who would never be caught sans tote.

"You're kind of given the stink eye if you don't bring them," said Ballard boutique owner Diane Macrae — especially at Trader Joe's, she said, where she guesses 90 percent of customers bring their own bags, including the sturdy, tiki-themed totes the store is known for.

"I could see the Trader Joe's customer getting halfway through their shopping and remembering they didn't bring it, then going all the way out to the car to get their bag," Macrae said. "I could see them even going home to get their bag."

Other shoppers are motivated more by the bottom line.

At the Safeway store on Rainier Avenue South, an elderly shopper who identified herself only as Ms. Conner walked out with her groceries in a half-dozen plastic bags.

Told that Referendum 1, if enacted, would add $1.20 to her tab, Conner said: "I'm not paying for bags. I spend all my money on groceries.

"I'll bring something," she added. "If I have to bring a wheelbarrow, I'll do it."

And for most consumers, change also means weaning themselves from the paper and plastic bags they've stashed under the sink for later uses such as lunch sacks or for cleaning up after pets.

"My daughter likes to use them as she plays house with her little friends," Segesta said. "They often go make-believe shopping ... You never know what you might find in a plastic grocery-store bag in my home."

Carbon footprint

Opponents of the 20-cent charge say it will spur people to switch to bags with even worse carbon footprints.

The charge is just not necessary, since Seattle has already become an environmental leader without it, said Adam Parmer of the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax.

"Little steps, that's what increases recycling," he said. "Not punitive measures."

Welke, the UW student, said that among her totes, she prefers the canvas ones. But she's also seen people pull out last week's wadded-up plastic bags for another round of shopping.

"Ultimately, it's which bag you think is the coolest," said Bob Lilienfeld, editor of the ULS — Use Less Stuff — Report, a national newsletter urging conservation.

"If it gets you to use it over and over again, it doesn't matter what the bag is made of."

The irony, he said, is that the environmental impact of disposable bags pales against that of, say, driving.

"In the grand scheme of things, if you reduced the number of shopping trips or walked to the store, the impact would be so much greater than which bag you take," Lilienfeld said. "But that's much harder to do."

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com