1. What is the initiative “We broke up with single-use shopping bags”?
   ALDO is making a bold commitment to reduce waste. The bagless initiative encourages customers to opt for an eco-designed shoebox, eliminating 8 million single-use shopping bags and saving an estimated 8,500 trees per year.
   The initiative is implemented in corporate stores in Canada, the USA, the UK and Ireland.
2. Why did you launch this initiative?
   Over a decade ago, we introduced a shoebox with a rope as a first step to making our packaging more sustainable and guide our customers to better shopping habits. We now believe that our consumers are ready to accept our boxes as the solution to carry their shoes home. The elimination of single-use bags is a major step in our long-term commitment to sustainability and is just one piece of the puzzle we are working on.
3. Why do you say your box is "eco-designed"?
   We introduced our box with a built-in handle in 2008, making a bag obsolete! It is made at 80% from post-consumer recycled materials and is completely recyclable after you remove the rope.
4. Can I still get a single-use bag in store?
   We encourage you to adopt sustainable shopping practices by bringing your own bag to our stores to minimize waste. If you require a bag in store and did not bring your own, you can purchase our eco-tote for a small cost. The net proceeds will be donated to ocean protection causes. We will no longer be carrying single-use bags in our stores.
5. Why do you say your tote is "eco"?
   Instead of using new materials, our reusable eco-tote is made at 80% from recycled plastic bottles (rPET). The number of plastic bottles present in a tote varies based on its size, and can be found on the tote's side. We've specially designed our tote to be reusable, decreasing the overall number of single-use bags in the environment.
6. How does your eco-tote give back?
   The sale of ALDO’s eco-tote offers an alternative to the box. As we wish to support the movement against single-use items, 100% of net profits from our eco-tote will be donated to ocean protection causes.
7. Is your eco-tote recyclable?
   Our eco-tote is made of a rPET body and polypropylene handle, designed to be reused as much as possible to minimize waste. Before you consider getting rid of our eco-tote, make sure you've gotten your maximum mileage out of it! Although we encourage you to recycle it at its end-of-life, reusable bags have recently been introduced on the market and may not have been identified as an accepted material for recycling yet. We encourage you to check if reusable bags are recyclable in your neighborhood.
8. What will be the impact of our initiative “We broke up with single-use shopping bags”?
   In the years preceding the bag phase out, ALDO gave away on average 8 million single-use bags per year. Through our initiative “We broke up with single-use shopping bags”, we predict we will reduce our shopping bag carbon footprint by 39% and save 8,500 trees every year, the equivalent of 114 million paper planes!
9. What else is ALDO doing for the environment?
   ALDO gives back to our local communities in many ways and strives to be environmentally responsible through company-wide sustainable practices. Please visit responsibility.aldogroup.com for more information about our initiatives.