Re-Usable Grocery Bags Qualify as "Hazardous Waste"

Jillian Bandes | November 14, 2010 2:50 PM

Another grocery store has pulled their line of re-usable bags after they were found to contain such high levels of lead that they actually qualified as toxic waste. Publix grocery stores are the second store after Wegmans to pull their bags as a voluntary measure before lower lead requirements go into effect next year.

Tribune tests showed certain bags from Winn-Dixie and Publix stores had levels of lead that concerned health officials. And some bags had enough lead that they could be considered hazardous waste if residents put them in their household trash.

Notice that the bags are only considered toxic when they're put into household trash; according to the tests, the lead isn't a big deal if humans touch it.