Grocery Bags and You - One Small Step

[SuperDuck]

Grocery shopping, like taxes, is an inevitability of life that some of us like doing more than others. (I love going grocery shopping myself.)

Going shopping creates a large amount of trash that's not very eco-friendly, though: the plastic grocery bag. There are millions of these little bags made every year, and they do not biodegrade as easily as their paper counterparts, nor are they as easy to recycle and use again. Many people don't recycle them, and the plastic bags pile up in the landfills by the millions. It's similar to the bottled-water situation - people don't realize how much waste is created by these small, everyday conveniences, and they don't get recycled as often as they could.

The good news is that there are a few easy solutions to this problem. You don't have to go out and by a hybrid car to do your part and help the environment, nor do you have to abandon all of your lightbulbs and live like a hermit in a cave. These are small steps that can help make everyone more aware and take a turn in direction towards less waste.

1 - Use canvas or cloth grocery bags. You can pick these up for relatively cheap, and they will last you for years. Just bring them with when you go grocery shopping and hand them to the bagger. They hold more, have stronger handles, and can be used over and over.

2 - Use paper bags multiple times. This is what my wife and I are doing. The paper bags that they give you at the grocery store are quite stout, and are definitely up to the task of being used more than once.

Next time you go shopping, fold up the paper bags and put them somewhere out of the way - ours fit nicely between the fridge and the wall. Bring them with next time and hand them to the bagger. Use them until you think they're starting to go, and then recycle them with the rest of your paper recycleables (newspapers, cardboard containers, etc.).

3 - Ask them not to use a bag for small purchases. How many times have you gone to Best Buy and bought a single CD and had it put into a small plastic bag? You then proceed to walk out the door, pause by the trash can and throw away the bag, receipt and plastic wrapping on the CD (so you can listen to it in your car, of course.) I know I have done this countless times before I realized the silliness of it.

The plastic bag that surrounded the CD was a complete waste. It's not going to be recycled and it served no purpose. Even if it waited until you got home, what did it accomplish? Think about whether or not you really need that plastic bag, and ask them not to use it. If you're going to be making multiple trips, or you're walking around for a long time and need something to carry whatever you've bought, then by all means use the bag. That's what it's there for! But there are a lot of times when the bag is completely wasted and gets thrown away before it can even serve its core purpose.

This would be a small step for each individual, and no one will remember to do it all the time. You'll forget to bring your bags once in a while, or maybe you'll stop on the way home unexpectedly when your wife tells you that there's no bacon for the potato soup. That's fine; it happens. If we all took this one small step collectively, however, it would make a huge dent in helping the plastic waste problem.

Just food for thought!

[Ericman197]

I'm like the opposite of an environmentalist, but I've been doing point 3 for a long time. The black bag exists only as an obstacle to the Penthouse I just bought. Sometimes I'll even go as far as to carefully balance four or five items sans bag, because I'm a pretty weird dude.

[roberthelpus]

And don't forget to compost your yard and kitchen waste.

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

I'm like the opposite of an environmentalist, but I've been doing point 3 for a long time.

That's the thing - regardless of your personal beliefs regarding the environment on grand issues like oil drilling, carbon footprint, Al Gore, blah blah blah; this is something that's easy and makes good sense in that it just plain creates less waste.

[KeithBMI]

I try to avoid bags whenever possible. The cashiers are always amazed by my item-holding skillz.

[username n/a]

Originally Posted by KeithBMI

I try to avoid bags whenever possible. The cashiers are always amazed by my item-holding skillz.

I concur

[Techmonkey]

whatever you do though, please try and be polite to the poor bugger on the tills...

they're only doing what their team managers tell them to do

I mean I get people being rude to me when I give them a bag... when I don't give them bag... even when I ask them if they want a bag! ("uhh, duh!")

but yeah, more ontopic, recycling = epic pass

[Yvon]

There is a grocery store close from here that has no bag at all!
ou have to bring yours, you have no choice.
I think it is a good. I also bring my own bag, that I leave in my car, you never know when you will need them.

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by Yvon

There is a grocery store close from here that has no bag at all!
ou have to bring yours, you have no choice.
I think it is a good. I also bring my own bag, that I leave in my car, you never know when you will need them.

I read in the newspaper today that there are some stores in Seattle that are proposing a $.20 fee to use a disposable bag. The Washington/Oregon area are usually first adopters of actions like that.

[Toasted]

You'll be glad to hear I already do all of the above. I have a bitchin' tote bag.

**edit: it must be remembered that no TBer has a bag cooler than Latimour's man bag**

[TallLankyBastyd]

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

I read in the newspaper today that there are some stores in Seattle that are proposing a $.20 fee to use a disposable bag. The Washington/Oregon area are usually first adopters of actions like that.

Seattle Baggage

[KJung]

Been using our own cloth bags for many years.... every little bit counts.

[mike_v_s]

I never understood the push for the plastic bags. My family always kept the paper bags we got and they were all eventually reused at least once. The plastic bags have sucked since day one. They tear easily, they don't "hold" your groceries in place, and they brought about the downfall of the knowledgeable bagger. There was a time that was expected to be done correctly.

Mike

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by Toasted

You'll be glad to hear I already do all of the above. I have a bitchin' tote bag.

**edit: it must be remembered that no TBer has a bag cooler than Latimour's man bag**

Wait. Latimour has a man bag?

Mike

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

Wait. Latimour has a man bag?

Mike

I always assume that every male that doesn't live in the US has a man bag.

[canopener]

While I don't usually take a bag for whatever I can comfortably carry by hand, I don't think I'm going to switch from plastic until a reusable canvas bag until they can serve a dual purpose as wastebasket liner, pooper-scooper, and container for miscellaneous trash items.

[GregC]

Thanks for the reminder, QD. I've been meaning to do this for a while--I've just been recycling my plastic bags while knowing the canvas bags are a much better answer. Time to get off my ass and do it.

[Marcus Johnson]

My wife was at Safeway to pick up one small item last week, and on the way out, she bought a nice reusable bag as an impulse at the checkout. The cashier rang her up, and then proceeded to put the reusable bag IN A PLASTIC BAG. My wife just cracked up and handed the plastic bag back. Unclear on the concept, apparently.

I have a bunch of really cool reusable bags from a gig I did with Willie Nelson (he's heavily into environmental issues). They're bright green, with Willie's logo on them, and they're made from bamboo fiber. He also gave me a t-shirt from the same company, made from bamboo; it's the most comfortable t-shirt I've ever worn.

[LongHairFreak]

Good thoughts man. Simple tasks can produce the coolest results. Me & my little family have one large canvase bag and we reuse/recycle the paper ones we get; done that for years. We do, however, have 3 cats (was 4 until recently), so we do use plastic for litter & crap. Nothing just gets tossed if we can help it... well, except the litter filled plastic of course.

FTR, I have 4 or 5 man bags and was born/raised in the US.

[mike_v_s]

Re: man bags (sorry, Super Duck who curiously has a frog as an avatar, but the man-bag issue is more pressing than groceries):

The only time I've carried anything close was after both kids were born. The college backpack got dusted off and used as a diaper bag. Well, I also use the backpack at Mardi Gras for holding food and beer. What on earth are you man-baggers carrying that necessitates the use of a man bag, much less a collection of them?

Mike