WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Green America launched its "Skip the Slip, CVS" campaign urging the pharmacy giant to improve its paper receipt practices to keep pace with other leading retailers. CVS is one of the largest retailers in the country and issues some of the longest receipts to customers. The chain's receipts contain the toxin Bisphenol-S (BPS), and its millions of paper receipts contribute to deforestation and pollution.
In response to consumer pressure and attention from late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel regarding CVS' long receipts, CVS introduced electronic receipts in its stores but failed to adequately promote the option to customers. Few CVS customers have switched because only CVS ExtraCare members have access to digital receipts, which they must request in store with a cashier. CVS' paper receipts continue to be over a foot long and toxic.
As Green America published in its recently updated report, roughly 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS), known endocrine-disruptors. The total mass of BPA on a receipt is 250 to 1,000 times greater than the amount of BPA found in a can of food or in plastic baby bottles. Retail employees are at greater risk, as workers who make regular contact with receipts have over 30 percent more BPA or BPS in their bodies. Additionally, paper receipt production in the U.S. consumes an estimated 10 million trees, 21 billion gallons of water, and emits 12 billion pounds of CO2 each year.*
"CVS has a well-known reputation for its lengthy paper receipts," said Beth Porter, Green America's Climate & Recycling director. "But what is less often discussed are that the millions of receipts it issues each year waste natural resources and pose health risks. CVS could be an industry leader on this issue if it switches to non-toxic receipts and fixes its restricted access to digital receipts. Currently, CVS is coming up short."
"We're mobilizing thousands of customers that visit CVS' 9,800 stores to urge the company to improve practices to protect worker health and follow through on its digital receipt program," said Todd Larsen, executive co-director of Consumer and Corporate Engagement at Green America. "As a company that is in the business of providing customers with products to protect and enhance their health, CVS has an obligation to move off of toxic paper receipts and make it easy for customers to get digital receipts."
Consumers can sign the petition calling on CVS to replace its BPS-coated paper receipts with a phenol-free option and to offer digital receipts to all customers.
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ABOUT GREEN AMERICA
Green America is the nation's leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org
*For updated impacts and explained methodology, please see our Jan 2019 revised report here.
