Tuesday’s Tip: Use Cloth Bags at the Grocery Store

Remember all that hype and frenzy around those “This Is Not a Plastic Bag” canvas shopping bags? That was ridiculous. But carrying a reusable cloth bag at the store is definitely NOT ridiculous; it’s incredibly wise. Neither paper bags nor plastic offer a good solution. I did a little digging and came up with lots of scary statistics on what our worldwide bag habit is doing to the environment and its inhabitants, including us. Here’s some info on plastic bags:

• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.
• According to the BBC, only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled.
• Australians alone consume about 6.9 billion plastic bags each year, that’s 326 per person. According to Australia’s Department of Environment, an estimated 49,600,000 annually end up as litter.
• Once brought into existence to tote your purchases, plastic bags will accumulate and persist on our planet for up to 1,000 years.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
• For more plastic bag facts, click here.

In case those facts have left you thinking that paper bags are the better choice, here’s some more statistics to change your mind:

• It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.
• Paper bag production delivers a global warming double-whammy: forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) have to be cut down, and then the subsequent manufacturing of bags produces greenhouse gases.
• Paper sacks generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags (because of the toxic chemical solution used in the process of turning wood chips into paper fibers.)
• It takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper.
• Although paper bags have a higher recycling rate than plastic, each new paper grocery bag you use is made from mostly virgin pulp for better strength and elasticity.
• For more paper bag facts, click here.

So, when the checker at your favorite grocery store says, “Paper or plastic,” you should probably respond by saying, “neither.” ReusableBags.com has this to say about bringing your own bags to the grocery store:

Each high quality reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime. The bag will pay for itself if your grocery store offers a $.05 or $.10 credit per bag for bringing your own bags.

Most stores do offer this credit, usually giving you the option of taking the coins or donating them to a charity. I can’t speak for the larger conventional chains like Safeway, but Whole Foods and just about every co-op I’ve been to offer the nickel or dime credit.

So, this is where I (conveniently and shamelessly) point out to you, my dear readers, that I now have 100% organic cotton reusable shopping bags for sale in my new Online Store. The reason I decided to sell these bags is because I really, truly believe that bringing your own bags to the store is the best way to go. I grew up in Southern California, where the reality of the harms plastic bags cause to marine life is a fact of life. I’m passionate about reducing the amount of waste in our oceans, and selling (and using) these bags is one small way I can do my part.

I leave my bags in my car, so I don’t have to remember them each time I go to the store. I keep the bags folded neatly inside another bag, which is how I bring them into the store with me. I usually stow them underneath the cart on the extra shelf, keeping them conveniently out of the way until it’s time to check out. I like putting the coins I get from the checker into those charity bins on my way out of the store (which, confoundedly, are plastic). And as I’m leaving, I look around at the stacks and stacks of paper and plastic bags at the end of the checkout lines, and I feel glad that I’m not contributing to their use and disposal.

Carry your own bags to the store is easy, there’s no reason not to do so. It’s a simple change to make, and over the course of several years, it’ll mean a whole lot to out environment and its creatures. Visit the Online Store to get yours today.