A supply problem temporarily halts the sale of North Attleboro trash bags at Stop & Shop

NORTH ATTLEBORO — An apparent problem in the supply chain for municipal trash bags has caused a week-long uproar on locally-focused social media.

Now the city’s solid waste department has weighed in with a notice to residents alerting them to other sources of bags and the supply issue has been resolved.

Posts on the city’s Facebook page and website, nattleboro.com, informed residents Thursday that an internal computer glitch at Stop & Shop meant the supermarket chain’s location in town, as well as those of Plainville and South Attleboro, were unable to sell the bags. or bag tags for now.

The notice says the company is trying to resolve the issue and the city will notify residents.

Caroline Medeiros, spokeswoman for Stop & Shop, which has offices in Quincy, emailed The Sun Chronicle on Friday, saying: “This issue is being resolved so customers can purchase the bags again. today”.

A spokesperson for the city’s solid waste division was unavailable for comment Friday.

The computer issue does not affect other stores that sell City Bags, including Shaw’s, which sells both City Bags and Bag Tags. Bob’s Market, CVS Pharmacy, Market Basket, Pick N’ Pay, and Speedway sell all the bags in town. Bags and labels are also on sale at the town hall.

City residents who are dues-paying members of the city’s curbside recycling program are required to purchase the blue plastic bags — or tags to affix to regular bags — for the pay-as-you-go system. Bags are collected weekly by the city’s waste contractor, Waste Management, along with recyclable materials. City bags can also be dropped off at the Mount Hope Street Recycling Center for free.

Nervous messages started popping up on social media early last week that the bags were unavailable at Stop & Shop markets in the area. The posters traded advice on where to find the items as well as occasional complaints about the system itself.

A poster with a leaning towards conspiracy wrote: “I was probably caught selling counterfeits. However, several posters on the Everything North Attleboro page were closer to the truth, claiming that there appeared to be a pricing issue at the point of sale.

City officials have said several times in recent months that North Attleboro may switch to using municipal trash cans instead of bags once the current contract with Waste Management expires this year. The bags have also been blamed for an ongoing problem with rodents and other city scavengers who are attracted to leftover food in garbage cans.

A supply problem temporarily halts the sale of North Attleboro trash bags at Stop & Shop | Local News