Whole Foods Markets said they would eliminate disposable plastic bags in all their stores by Earth Day 2008. True to their word, the store no longer asks if you want plastic or paper.

In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, Whole Foods only has 100 percent recycled paper bags for packing purchases; but encourages people to bring their own bags whether the bags they bring with them are old, new, paper, plastic, or fabric.

To encourage people to bring their own bags the store will give customers at least 5 cents back for each bag they bring to pack their groceries in, with many stores offering more than 5 cents. For example, the Whole Foods I shop at gives 10 cents back for every bag of my own I bring in.

They also sell reusable bags at the store. I purchased one of the “Better Bags” reusable bags for 99 cents during my last trip to the store. The bag is sturdy, is brightly colored in shades of blue, green and red, and 80% of it is made from recycled plastic bottles. The bag will pay for itself because I’ll get 10 cents back every time I use it.

Ditching the plastic bags and going to reusable and recycled paper bags may seem like a small step to take in helping the environment but everything we do that helps the environment adds up. It’s like my Mom has said to me since I was a little girl, “Every little bit helps.”