Kroger, America's largest supermarket chain, has just announced that it will be phasing out all of its single-use plastic bags in favor of reusable alternatives by 2025.

Kroger operates 2,800 stores across the country, as well as their additional subsidiary stores including Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, Fry's, and Ralphs.

Their QFC stores in the Pacific Northwest will be the first to eliminate single-use bags by their 2019 deadline, as they are already working around Seattle's municipal plastic bag ban.

According to an op-ed that was published by Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, the company issues roughly 6 billion of the 100 billion plastic bags that are used in the USA every year, which is enough to "fill three Houston Astrodomes from top to bottom, year-after-year, with nothing but plastic bags."

"When our company's phase out of single-use grocery bags is fully implemented, the waste generated by these bags at our family of stores will drop by 123 million pounds per year," said McMullen. "To give a sense of just how big a number that is, that's equal to the weight of the entire population of Detroit."

"The plastic shopping bag's days are numbered," he added. "Our customers have told us it makes no sense to have so much plastic only to be used once before being discarded – and they're exactly right."

Be Sure And Pass On The Positive News To Your Friends – Photo by Peteruetz, CC