Dick’s Sporting Goods pledges to remove single-use plastic bags

As part of a new initiative to eliminate single-use plastic bags from the wastestream, Dick’s Sporting Goods is joining an industry consortium.

Dick’s is committing to remove all single-use point-of-sale plastic bags from its stores by 2025. As a first step toward this goal, Dick’s is taking part in the Closed Loop Partners' Center for the Circular Economy’s Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag as the lead sports & outdoors sector partner. Dick’s will work alongside Closed Loop Partners founding partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart, as well as Kroger and Walgreens, in the Beyond the Bag initiative. Closed Loop Partners launched the initiative earlier this year to identify, test and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. 

The consortium recently launched the challenge in partnership with global design company IDEO, which is currently accepting ideas from across the globe to re-invent the current retail bag – which could include reusable models, new materials, or software and hardware innovations that eliminate the need for bags altogether. As the Consortium's Sports & Outdoors Sector lead partner, Dick's will direct priorities and activities for the initiative within this sector.

"Our customers are outdoor enthusiasts who are passionate about working together to keep our planet clean and safe for future generations," said Peter Land, chief communications and sustainability officer at Dick's Sporting Goods. "Like our customers, we're committed to doing what we can to prevent waste from ending up in our oceans and natural environment, and we look forward to working on the Beyond the Bag Initiative."

"We want to realize a future in which waste is a thing of the past. Dick’s commitment to creating a more sustainable world for its customers makes them a perfect partner of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag," said Kate Daly, managing director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.