Lately it seems that those flimsy plastic grocery bags are garnering lots of attention in the news. If there is not a group trying to save them there is a group trying to have them banned! I read a number of the articles, and now I regret not saving the links.
But one country that banned the plastic grocery bag reported a 400% increase in the purchase of garbage bags. Hmmm - their plastic bags must be a whole lot better than what the stores here give you!
But no mater what side of the argument you fall on, or even if you don't care, can I ask you a question?
Would you bring something home solely for the sake of recycling it or throwing it in the garbage?
Yet this is what we often do with grocery bags. We even nobly opt for paper because it is easier to recycle! Now I do request paper bags when I have a need for them, but no other time.
Actually, where we live we can recycle the grocery bags and the plastic produce bags (which I am still looking for a valid option on) by simply throwing them in our recycling bin. But again, what is the point of bringing them home in the first place if I am only going to throw them out!
At first as I read these articles I got a little bit annoyed by our short sightedness and thought that the stores that charge you for bags have the right idea (okay, so I still think they have a point), but as I think about this whole issue more, I reach a conclusion.
Just because our stores love to waste their money by giving us those useless plastic shopping bags (mine always seem to have holes or ripped handles) does not mean I have to take them. I do not need an act of either the local or national government to tell me that I can make better decisions, I can do that myself.
So I began looking for reusable grocery bags. And when my hunt went south I asked around and ended up being given 8 or 9 as gifts (fortunately they are all the same!) - although I believe these particular ones retail for about $1 a piece. These are normally enough for all my grocery shopping, even on a week when the list is long and numerous stores are included on my shopping run. (Although I have been known to combine partially filled bags myself). And I keep the bags in the car so they are ready even for those last minute stops (honey, can you please pick up milk on the way home?)
And besides the less waste argument, two of the stores I shop at give me a $0.05 credit for every bag of mine they use! It is not a huge amount, but at least it is some kind of recognition that I am saving them money but not taking their bags!
But I am still surprised that at some stores I almost have to be insistent that I would really prefer they use my shopping bags.
Now I will not mislead you and say that our household is perfectly "green", but we are trying to take little steps to make a difference in our own little corner of the world. And would you like to know how this started? When we moved our garbage and recycling bins were overflowing each week, and I began to carefully look at and think about what I was throwing out. In some cases it has saved us money, and in others just saved my happiness (those plastic bags really annoy me for some reason).
Now I am just trying to remember to take them for my non-grocery shopping trips too!
What do you think about this whole plastic bag argument? Do you use your own? If not, what do you do with all those plastic bags?
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5 comments:
I love plastic grocery bags, but that is because I use them for garbage bags. I just can't bear the thought of buying stuff to throw away (ie. garbage bags).
Every plastic bag I bring home is used as a garbage bag. That way I don't have to buy more. I'm just cheap!
That said, I'd definitely use my own re-usable shopping bags if I didn't use plastic bags for garbage bags. Like you said, why bring something home just to throw it away?
Mrs. Mordecai,
How do you manage to get bags that do not leak? Every time I have tried this I end up with leaks across my floors!
I am very happy and envious that you found a use for your bags!
I always had hole-y ones and was so tired of throwing them out.
Now if I could just figure out all that excess packaging that companies like so much!
We probably use a combo of both. Once a month or so, I get plastic bags on purpose because I use them to line our small trashcans throughout the house. The rest of the time, I use cloth bags, which hold WAY mroe groceries and are also more stable. I even bought an insulated one for ice cream in the summer. I didn't mind spending $1 a piece because it was a worthwhile investment. $6 to save probably 500 bags per year sounded pretty good to me:)
I use canvas bags for shopping, leaving them in the car- and leaving them in the front seat (we don't share a car so it's easier for me to do that) so I will actually remember to take them in better. I also bought a bag from Target that zips into a pouch that I slip into my purse so I always have one for little purchases and it's come in handy.
As to the plastic bag problem. Hubby doesn't use canvas bags, and we do use plastic ones to line our trash cans, so the little bit of shopping he does lines our bins. If we need more, I try to remember not to use the canvas bags (which after 2 years of remembering is now harder to do than it used to be yay!) As to the holes - grocery stores bags are thin, but Target has nice ones and a local food storeish type place has nice ones so we try to keep them in mind when we need the thicker ones.
I use the better plastic bags as trash bags too. I always use two though because, like you, I tend to get leaks. Using two seems to prevent that.
I do carry tote bags and my own bags around just because I shop on foot a lot and those plastic bags cut into my hands. I also have a cart on wheels. Many things can go directly in without a bag.
My situation is totally different. I do not live in North America.
When we were visiting USA for 2 months recently, I was amazed at how many bags we accumulated. I started using the small bath trashcans in the kitchen just to use them up.
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