Every year, 500 billion to a TRILLION plastic bags are consumed worldwide. You know, those plastic bags they give you for “free” when you go to the grocery or big box store. Like diamonds, plastics are forever. They don’t biodegrade. They photodegrade and ruin the soil. Not to mention the extreme litter they create worldwide and the threat to sea life when they are dumped in the oceans. Paper bags are better in some ways (they biodegrade) but require a lot more energy to produce.  Recycling costs much more than original production and very few bags worldwide are ever recycled (even if they are collected to be, sadly.)Â
One of the simplest ways you, dear reader, can be a little more green is to bring your own bags. Some stores even give you a credit for bringing your own bags ($.05+ a bag), as well they should since they have to pay for the bags they give out for “free” to consumers. Â
If you’d like, you can get some of those tote bags you are imagining in your head right now, they work fine. I splurged on some neat bags from Reusable Bags when I had a 20% off coupon code. We got a bargain shopping set they are not running any longer that had three different types of bags. I highly recommend the Acme Workhorse (they fold up REALLY small and you can keep them in your purse) and the Acme Earthtote. They are the size of a standard plastic and paper bag respectively, but hold much more than their disposable counterparts as they are built much tougher. It’s amazing how many fewer bags I use per shopping trip. I have heard good things about Chicobags, too. So bring your own bags, friends.  And work to reuse and retool the disposable ones you end up with as packing material, planters, and whatever else you fancy.  It’s an easy way to be green.Â
The two summers I spent in Europe, almost TWENTY YEARS AGO, this was the norm already over there. If you went to the store without your own bag, you had to buy one. I remember thinking that one day soon the USA would follow suit. Well, it’s been twenty years and we’re still the same lazy, wasteful Americans we’ve always been.
I hope lots of people read this and follow your advice.
I’ve been bringing my own bags (cloth ones or reusing paper bags) to Meijer for awhile, and just yesterday they gave me a 5 cent discount for each bag. I was happy to see them participating in the discount. I think Trader Joe’s allows you to enter your name in a raffle type drawing for something if you bring your own bags.
I want to do this. I remember you mentioning this before, but I’d forgotten…
Thanks for this post.
Along with your bags, bring a backpack. It’s sturdy, reusable, and an easier way to transport groceries from the car to the house (especially if you need your hands free for car keys, pets, kids, etc.).
this is something i am TERRIBLE at. in canada, you had to buy your own bags, and i loved the reminder, and i also enjoyed paying for them-sort of penance for forgetting, lol. i think maybe i will try to give myself a reward of some sort. and, maybe i will make some bags, which will be fun itself!
In Ukraine, it is standard to byob or buy then at the cash register. It was really, really weird when we came back to the States. Honestly, I’ve gotten out of that habit, but I still cringe when we bring home the groceries and have all these sacks. Your post has reminded me to make this a priority again.
UkrExPat Humor:
Friends of long time American ex-pat, Brian Swenson, have confirmed that he’s “gone local”. “We started getting suspicious about Brian when we were partying at his house. When the time came for a beer run, Brian pulled out several large plastic sacks from a cupboard and said we could use them to carry the beer in. But then he said, ‘Make sure you don’t damage them because they are the best plastic sacks I have,'” said Steve Anderson, a long time friend of Swenson.
From the Kyiv Beet
Good idea. The hardest part of doing this would be actually remembering to bring the bags. I have a hard enough time remembering to bring the grocery list.
I think the only answer is if stores actually charged for the bags (as they have in Europe for a long time and, as meggan reported, they do in Canada too). Just offering a discount will not hit enough people where they live, I think. Even 5 cents a bag would probably be enough to get people to start bringing their own.
(On a slightly different note: in Germany, they also charged 5 pfennigs a packet for ketchup at McDonald’s so people wouldn’t waste it.)
This is not such a new concept. Back when I was a child we’d buy a flat of Cokes from the store. If you didn’t bring back a flat of empty bottles with you that day, you had to pay a deposit on the bottles you were taking from the store. Even at the Coke machines, there would be a wooden flat for the bottles: when you finished your drink, you’d put the bottle back in the flat. We didn’t know to call it recycling then: that’s just the way things were done.
Ditto with milk: you’d leave the empty bottles on the porch and the milkman would replace them with full bottles.
And of course, my mom washed our diapers, hung them on the line, and (gasp!) reused them on us. (And no, I wasn’t born in the ’20s: I was born in the late ’60s.)
Aren’t we lucky to live in a time when we know so much better and everything is disposable, so we can fill up our landfills and then go make more landfills? :-)
Just noticed these. If you’re looking for hip, cute shopping bags, here you go:
http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2007/04/20/paper-or-plastic/
well-i did it! i made two so far-my reward was the amy butler fabric, so now i have a new purse too… :) thanks for the inspriation!
I feel guilty when I forget bags and I usually remember them now. I try to keep an extra bag in my purse for quick trips and then remember to put the bag of bags in the car when I am going on a big run.
I am not for big government but I would not be opposed to a PlasTax, like Ireland has: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=6 They reduced their consumption by 90%, that’s over 300 billion bags for the US! And, you know, it gives us all incentive to remember our bags.
I’ve been considering getting some of these reuseable bags. My problem is that those plastic bags are so handy for dealing with cat litter. I guess it’s recycling…but I’d love a better way of dealing with that!
Bekah,
When I forget my bags, I do reuse the ones I get and that makes me feel better. If you can get another source for bags for litter (parents or friends who wouldn’t use reusable bags) that’s one idea, but if you use all the ones you obtain for litter, that’s pretty decent!
John just brought me back a sturdy shopping bag from WholeFoods which he bought during a trip to Portland. It’s a great size and very sturdy. I also have a market basket I use when we go to our local Grower’s Market.
I found that my Goodwill is always in desperate need for bags. Anything I cart home in paper or plastic, the bags get stored up and I take them in to the GW. They’re always excited to see more bags. Plus it helps keep their costs down.
Or you could try something like this: Knit Plastic Carryall
The Oprah show on Friday was her “green show.” Everyone got a free canvas grOcery tote and net produce bag, both of which can be purchased on her website. She’s selling the tote at cost plus shipping, $10 in all, which makes it the least expensive canvas tote I’ve seen so far.
I’ve been recycling grocery bags for a while now because I usually shop at Aldi. I usually get paper at the regular grocery store, then take a stack with me to Aldi. Trader Joe’s is coming to town so I’m hoping for some incentive from them to byob!
Kristen, the plastax seems like a good idea (and that’s coming from a mostly Libertarian!)I’d MUCH rather pay a plastax than say, propery tax.
Amber, Trader Joes has cheap bags made from recycled plastic or something, I think they are $2 or $3 and about the size of a paper bag! Look out for those.
I like taxes that aren’t mandatory, for example, a sales tax on things other than food, a high tax on cigarettes, etc.
Do you know of any bag co-ops going on anywhere right now?