Target joins reusable bag push

New York City Target announced Monday that it plans to give customers a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they use to pack their purchases.

The announcement comes within days of drug-store giant CVS' plan to give participating CVS customers $1 cash bonuses on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don't request plastic bags.

The programs come at a time retailers are feeling heat from advocacy groups, lawmakers and customers to take actions on environmental issues.

In tandem, the two programs could keep billions of plastic bags out of the environment and nudge other big retailers to take similar steps, Allen Herskowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told USA Today.

Although smaller retailers have given consumers financial incentives to reuse bags, most big retailers have stopped short of giving customers money to bring their own bags.

The CVS program rolls out to 7,000 stores over the next three weeks.