A new year is always a good time to set goals and establish habits. I think the start of 2020 is a good time for all of us to work on developing more eco-friendly habits. I’m going to choose a “Green Goal” each month to share with you all. I hope you’ll decide to join me.
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Green Goal: Reusable Bags
It’s entirely possible you’ve been bringing your own bags to the grocery store for ages. Good job! But it’s also possible that you never…or rarely…do. No judgment, though. Today is the perfect time to begin.
I’ve been using reusable grocery bags for around 10 years, I believe. It was a new concept here in rural Oklahoma at the time. In fact, none of our stores had them for sale. When a friend who lives in the Pacific Northwest heard that, she kindly sent me a few.
Baggers at our local grocery stores had no idea what to think of the lady who didn’t want her groceries in their free plastic bags. But gradually they became accustomed to it. Some asked me why I brought my own bags and I had the perfect opportunity to share.
For the most part, people around here have been accepting, and some even complimentary about it. I’ve had a couple of people who were less than nice about it but I’d rather focus on the positive.
First, let’s talk about why this habit is important. Did you know that Americans use 100 BILLION (!) plastic bags a year? And that it takes 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture those bags?
- The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year.
- Only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average family only recycles 15 bags a year; the rest end up in landfills or as litter.
- 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually.
- Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes.
- It takes 500 (or more) years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Unfortunately the bags don’t break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.
If you aren’t in the habit of bringing your own bags I hope you’ll consider giving it a go. Here’s how to get started:
1. Purchase a few bags. There are SO MANY options these days! I have a variety that I’ve collected or been given over time. It’s nice to have different sizes and types. Here are a few options:
Reusable, foldable into pouch set:
Heavy duty, thick plastic bottom set:
2. Develop a routine for using them. When you are first getting started it’s easy to forget your bags until you are standing in the checkout line. I find it really helpful to keep some in my car at all times. I’m in the habit now but until you get used to it, try placing the bags in the front seat with your handbag when you leave the house to go shopping. Here are some helpful hints for remembering your bags:
11 Tricks to Remember Your Reusable Bags
3. After unloading your groceries at home, fold up your bags and either take them right back out to your car or leave them in your “landing zone” if you have one. That way you’ll see them the next time you leave the house.
4. Keep them clean.
The Best Way to Clean Your Reusable Grocery Bags
If you are already an old pro at using your own bags at the grocery store, let’s see if there’s a way to up your game. Do you also remember to use reusable bags at other types of stores? There are some stores I go to regularly where I am good about remembering to bring in a bag or two but if it’s not part of my usual routine shopping I sometimes forget.
I do try to keep a small bag in my purse. These are the ones I have:
What about when you are vacationing? Again, keeping a bag or two in your purse helps. If we are going to be staying in a condo and doing some grocery shopping, I try to remember to pack a few grocery bags in our luggage.
Or what about produce bags? Are you still using the thin plastic bags in the produce section? This is where I plan to change my habits this year. I have a couple of net produce bags my daughter gave me a few years ago and I’m going to buy something like these:
I’d love to hear from you. Do you always (or usually) remember to use reusable bags?
You may also enjoy…
40 Easy Ways to Avoid Plastic Waste
How timely! Oregon just passed a law (effective today) banning single use plastic bags and charging $0.05 for paper bags. We do occasionally get paper bags to use for recycling our bottles & cans ($0.10 refund, which we donate to a divorced friend who struggles financially). I developed the reusable bag habit many years ago and have many in my car at all times, so if I forget to carry the ones I just used back out to the car – no worries: I have more! The only time I do forget is if someone else is with me and we get to talking, otherwise – my bags are in my hand at all stores.
I do need to clean them all – a good project for tomorrow as we start out the new year. 🙂
I should probably clean mine, too. 😉
We try to use them. I’m good at remembering. I always take a backpack with me anyhow, and have a couple of reusable bags in it for if I need those too (like if I run out of space in the backpack). Hubby’s meant to do the same, but often forgets, even though the two backpacks are kept where they’re easily spotted on the way out of the door. We also have a backpack that goes with us when we take the dogs out, but that one’s kept by their leads (easily accessable, and always remembered by me when we go out, but on different hooks to “our” backpacks). So, we have reusable bags, and try to use them, but our success rate needs more work.
It sounds like you are doing pretty well. I’m 100% in the habit of taking my own bags for planned grocery shopping trips. It’s the little unplanned shops that I’m not quite as good about. And David isn’t at all good about it even though I have bought him a few bags to keep in his vehicle. Fortunately he rarely does any shopping. Once in awhile it is handy to have a plastic bag available (like when the dog pukes – ha!) so I keep the few he brings home to use for that sort of thing.
I do something like that. I’ve got a bag of bags from hubby’s shopping trips. 😉
I always use reusable bags. I keep several at home and in the car.
For produce I either have it without or in some like the little ones you showed in your post.
This is a thing that we must do, not that we should, we must, it’s very important.
And, let’s face it, it’s so much nicer not to use those plastic bags that they give us at supermarkets.
I absolutely agree! It is important that we each do our part and as you say, reusable bags are so much better anyway. They hold more and are easier to carry. I can’t imagine going back to using plastic grocery bags.
I do bring my own plastic and produce bags to the grocery store. One of the added benefits that I love about bringing my own bags is that you can get more stuff in them, resulting in fewer bags to have to lug into the house. Like you, those little unplanned trips are what trip me up – pardon the pun. At the drugstore, if I have small items, I’ll just put them in my purse, but I need to get better about having a little bag in my purse for when I need one. New York State is banning plastic bags come March, so that will probably help me along in that habit!
Another thing I learned about microplastics is that they end up in the ocean and waterways and sea life ingests it, thinking the little particles are food, and then it just continue on up the food chain to us. We all have plastics in our systems and they could potentially be causing many illnesses and maladies of our modern life. My husband and I watched a great documentary on the effects of plastics some years back… wish I could remember it and rewatch.
If you recall the name of the documentary I hope you’ll let me know. I’m aware of the microplastics issue and would like to see the documentary. I just hate what we are doing to our environment and am really trying to do better.