I've been using reusable grocery bags for some time now and it always astounds me when I am in the checkout and people have their groceries packed in gobs of those thin plastic bags. Data released by the EPA says that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed each year and less then 1% of those are recycled.
Check this out:
---From http://www.squidoo.com/reusablegrocerybag
* To make a plastic bag takes non renewable resources such as petroleum and natural gas. Not only does this have a big environmental impact, but it also increases our reliance on foreign suppliers.
* The energy used in the manufacturing on plastic bags contributes to global warming and releases toxic chemicals into the environment.
* Hundreds of thousands of animals and marine life each year are affected - they suffer a painful and slow death when they accidentally ingest or become tangled in plastic bags .
* Plastic bags can contaminate the food chain. Toxic chemicals from plastic bags may leach into foods, the sea and the environment which then in turn contaminates the food that we eat.
* Estimates say that over one billion plastic bags are handed out per day. You can make a difference. Easily. Get a reusable grocery bag and say no to plastic!
* Plastic bags go to landfill sites. What you have used for maybe 30 minutes will be with the earth for over 1000 years.
Hello!
It is so easy to bring your own bags to the store. The website http://www.bagsontherun.com/ sells reusable and recycled bags for about $1.20 each. You can pick out different colors and even have them custom printed.
I believe that plastic bags should be banned. I bring my bags to every store that I frequent from the grocery to a little baby boutique, it's really easy folks. Keep the bags in your trunk and you'll never be without them. It's a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint, so in the words of Nike, "Just Do It!"
3 comments:
Easy for you.
I have these bags and I ALWAYS forget them at the house or in the car. I never think of them until I look up and my groceries are half packed in the plastic bags.
If you can train my brain to remember the bags, I'll be happy to.
I do recycle the bags I use though.
And I beg the baggers to either let me do it (if it isn't busy) or to stuff them to the hilt. I'd happily forgo them altogether when I'm ready to leave BUT they won't let me. Those bags represent a receipt. Now how dumb is that?
When I forget them I make a point to ask for no bag when I have few enough items to fit in the bag I am carrying (a baby bag, so you can fit a small house in there) and in my hands. I'm always surprised how fast people will put a single small item in a bag.
I have a bunch of reusable canvas grocery bags and I do use them with regularity. But without fail, there's always the unexpected stop at the grocery store I make where the bags never made their way back to the car from the kitchen.
That's troublesome and I always feel guilty as I head into the store sans bags. Most grocery chains now have their own reusable bags that you can purchase for a relatively inexpensive price, but from what *I've* read about them, they're plastic based, as well, and they're really NOT that durable, so they don't last through many, many shopping trips (as they should).
So...have you happened to stumble upon the TRUE benefit of using those cheap-o reusable bags that retailers seem to be (umhmmm) toting these days? ARE they as beneficial as we're lead to believe?
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