Boston-A joint effort by Massachusetts grocery stores and the state environmental agencies to persuade consumers to cut their use of disposable shopping bags has led to a 33 percent reduction since 2007, state officials said Nov. 17. The voluntary effort is being led by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass-DEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA), which had set a goal to reduce the use of disposable bags by 33 percent by 2013. As part of the initiative, which was launched in 2009, 12 supermarket chains, comprising 384 stores representing more than two-thirds of the industry in Massachusetts, have been participating in the effort by tracking annual paper and plastic bag usage. "A key MassDEP priority is to minimize the waste stream, and reducing the use of disposable bags by 33 percent is a great step forward," MassDEP Commissioner Kenneth L. Kimmell said in a statement.
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机译：波士顿-由马萨诸塞州杂货店和州环保机构共同努力，说服消费者减少使用一次性购物袋，自2007年以来已减少了33％，州官员于11月17日表示。马萨诸塞州环境保护部（Mass-DEP）和马萨诸塞州食品协会（MFA）的目标是到2013年将一次性袋子的使用减少33％。作为该计划的一部分，该计划于2009年启动，12包括384家商店的连锁超市代表了马萨诸塞州行业的三分之二以上，它们一直在通过跟踪纸和塑料袋的年度使用情况来参与这项工作。 MassDEP专员肯尼斯·金梅尔（Kenneth L. Kimmell）在一份声明中说：“ MassDEP的关键优先事项是最大程度地减少废物流，将一次性袋子的使用减少33％是一大进步。”
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