These days, there really is no excuse for not using reusable shopping bags. Even Costco, Wal-Mart and Target have their own bags for purchase, and generally they're pretty inexpensive. My local grocery store sells nice sized, sturdy reusable bags for 99 cents. It took me a while to remember my bags when shopping, but now it's become habit.
I have found that you can pack more items into the reusable bags, so less trips from the car to the house. Plus, there are some pretty cute bags out there, which makes being green even better! Here are two favorites from my collection:
You can find a great assortment of reusable bags at this site, and though they're a bit pricey, I think the investment is well worth it! 
If you still need a reason to stop using plastic or paper grocery bags, here's 10:- Paper bag production causes 70% more pollution than plastic.
- Plastic grocery bags take 450 years to biodegrade.
- Plastic “photo degrades” and ends up in our oceans. It is then consumed by fish, and eventually it winds up on your dinner table (lovely).
- If you think everyone is recycling those plastic bags, think again. Only 2% of plastic bags are recycled in the U.S. each year
- The recycling of plastic emits heavy metals into the air causing extreme air pollution.
- An average person will use over 350 bags in a single year, and with only 2% being recycled? Yikes!
- In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person would reduce waste by 5 million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
- In 1999 more than 14 million trees were cut down to produce 10 billion paper bags that were used by Americans that year.
- Many grocery stores are considering not offering paper/plastic bags unless you purchase them (some stores in France already do this).
- Shopping with stylish reusable bags is hot!
So, go out and get yourself a couple of cute shopping bags and hit the stores. You'll be encouraging others to do the same, thereby doing your part for the environment. Hey, every little bit counts, right?
1 comment:
We have quite a collection of cloth bags. We bring them everywhere with us. I just refuse to use plastic. On the occasion I forget my bags, I have them put everything right back in my cart and I load it into the trunk. I just can't take the plastic.
Post a Comment