Grocer will halt use of plastic bags

Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest U.S. natural-foods grocer, will stop handing out disposable plastic bags at checkout counters in its stores.

All of its 270 U.S., Canadian and British outlets will begin running down inventories of the bags right away, the Austin, Texas-based company said. It aims to be free of disposable plastic bags by Earth Day on April 22.

Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.