Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Plastic Bags can stuff it, but not with my stuff

And the winner (drawn by Lily) is.....Arthouse!  Congrats!  Thanks all, for entering, and I loved reading your comments.  Here's to fewer plastic bags in our lives.  If you have trouble remembering, making this pact to NOT use plastic will help, because carrying groceries one by one isn't fun. ;)  Also, these little bags that roll up into pouches do make it easy to always have one with you.  It becomes a habit and second nature after awhile, too.

It's time for another eco-conscious rant, and this topic that gets me riled up as much as anything: those annoying, ubiquitous plastic shopping bags.

Can’t stand them and go to great lengths to avoid them. I won’t use plastic bags when shopping, which leads me to either plan ahead and bring my own bags, or not get everything I went to the store for--buying only what I can carry.
I’ve always tried to minimize my plastic bag usage, and so even before I started using reusable bags I was disgusted at how many plastic bags I accumulated even though I was such a minimalist. The recycling bins inside several stores helped, but, still, what a pain to bag up and recycle all those plastic bags that I didn’t want to possess in the first place!

Then I got this big, huge beach bag. Since I don’t go to the beach too often, I realized it would be perfectly suited to hauling groceries, and it held so much. That was quite awhile ago, and I have an assortment of reusable bags now, from cotton totes to my little nylon bags that fold up into little pouches, perfect for stashing in a purse or pocket.

Hopefully cashiers are getting more used to customers bringing their own bags.  They are often surprised how much mine hold, especially considering that cashiers sometimes only put one or two items in each bag when using plastic.  Unless you bring your own, you could easily walk out of a shopping trip with dozens of those things.  Yikes!

Here's a challenge:  count how many plastic bags come into your house in the course of a week.   Leave a comment on my blog about how you’re reducing your plastic bag consumption.  I’m giving away a cool green flip & tumble bag that will fit in the palm of your hand.  I'll pick a winner Sept. 21.

6 comments:

  1. Yea for totes~ We try to avoid using plastic bags. I have found if my bags always stay in the car then I don't have to worry about forgetting them. An issue I have though is the cloth bags I buy always seem to go missing! (I think ppl forget to return them when I send things home with them in my bags) I would love to win a new one!

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  2. I used cloth bags for shopping for the first time in 1994 when I made a bunch for myself (way back when I had time for sewing and crafts). I have accumulated quite a few more bags over the years (my favorite are Taregets' red cloth bags--SUPER roomy and fold up easily and neatly) I store 6/7 of them inside one small tote and keep them on the floor of the car to grab and shop with. I'm also big on recycling but I reuse the few plastic bags I inevitably aquire by lining my small under the sink kitchen & bathroom trash cans, I haven't bought plastic trach bags for 15 yrs.! Happy shopping!!!

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  3. Oh my back of my wagon is FULL OF THEM! Love them...use them as gift bags too! Someone suggested corraling them in laundry basket which I just did, lovely!

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  4. I love the reusable bags. I like to big ones that I can throw in the washing machine. As far as the plastic bags I reuse them as trash bags in the bathroom. I also, tried a tutorial I saw'll with layering them and using a iron with wax paper and made a clutch purse it turned out kinda cool.

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  5. This is one of my biggest struggles. I've been recycling and composting for years and I love it! I'm not sure why I haven't caught on to the reusable canvas bag. I actually own 5 or 6 of them. I think it's mostly because I forget to take them with me. Always running here and there. I'm making a pledge tonight Krista, to leave a few in the car at all times. If I get plastic bags it's only because I'm cheap and I don't want to buy plastic trash bags!

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  6. I have the reusable bags, but I always forget to bring them in the store. : (

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