Plastic shopping bags can remain intact for years in the environment, sometimes killing wildlife. They don’t actually decay, but break down into tiny plastic particles, causing trouble for ever-smaller creatures. Some places have started charging for plastic bags, or even banning them altogether. (Generally, charging is preferable — it works well, yet preserves choice.) Reusable shopping bags are a better alternative to throwaway plastic bags.
Make Your Own Reusable Bags
Reusable shopping bags are fairly easy to make. It requires a little time and skill, but the materials are readily available. This way you can choose the color, size, and other features that you want.
Bags can be sewn from fabric, knitted or crocheted from yarn, and so forth. You can even knit throwaway plastic bags into reusable ones! This post compiles various free patterns for different bags.
Buy Reusable Bags
If you lack the skill or interest for crafts, you can buy reusable bags. Many natural food stores and co-ops sell them. Reusable Bags and Ecobags offer a wide variety of styles. For business owners and organization staff, Bulletin Bag sells various types of reusable bags that can be printed with your logo or message. If your budget is tight, look for cheap or free reusable bags.
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Bryan Metz 01.19.09 at 12:38 pm
Most of the grocery stores (including the big boxes like Wal-Mart) in our area have taken a third approach: you can buy a reusable bag from them or bring your own, and they give you a couple cents off each time you use it. I think I like this way best. You don’t feel like you are being penalized if you forget your bags at home (which I do a lot), and you get a nice little tangible bonus for going “green”.
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Elizabeth Barrette 01.19.09 at 1:45 pm
That’s a great idea! We have, in fact, been buying reusable bags from Wal-Mart (theirs are made from recycled plastic bottles) but I didn’t know about the discount. I’ve started collecting reusable bags from different places for the imagery and slogans. I have one from a food co-op that we got free with a purchase there.
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John 01.19.09 at 2:50 pm
You linked to information in Dublin in your post, but did you know that, as of the first of this year, Seattle is charging 20 cents a bag? You can read about it here: http://www.seattlebagtax.org/GreenFee_BagTax.pdf (I don’t know how to write hrefs…)
Speaking of carrots as opposed to sticks, Trader Joe’s gives you an entry in a monthly drawing when you bring in your own bags.
~ John
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Elizabeth Barrette 01.19.09 at 3:05 pm
I did see the reference to Seattle, and San Francisco is banning plastic bags. I really like the idea of entering people in a drawing! I wonder what other incentives the stores will discover.
By the way, under the gray comment box should be a yellow box showing what HTML tags are available in comments. The first one is the href code. Insert the URL between the first pair of quote marks and the title between the second pair.
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Margaret Middleton 01.19.09 at 6:35 pm
20-odd years back, during the previous energy crunch, our Kroger stores sold canvas bags with the “Think Global / Act Local” logo on them. I bought two, and still have them, and I’ve added to the collection over the years. Some of them are souvenirs of various events and one was even a prize-premium for taking advantage of a TIME magazine reordering special while they were celebrating their 75th anniversary of publi cation.
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Elizabeth Barrette 01.19.09 at 7:55 pm
Yes, I remember that upswell of Earth awareness. I’ve spotted some organizations now that are giving away reusable bags for various reasons. It’s a good way to get bags if you can’t afford to buy them and don’t have the skill to make them.
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Mary 01.27.09 at 4:41 am
Hi! (I’m from Australia)
I am trying to persuade my family to stop using plastic bags
to line our bins. That’s the main reason they still continue accepting them at supermarkets. Although we are in the middle of a drought
and we have limited water supply but we installed a tank…
so they can easily wash the bins after emptying them out with the accumilated tank water and at the same time
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Elizabeth Barrette 01.27.09 at 1:32 pm
It’s hard to break the habit of using plastic bags to line garbage cans or bins. Most people don’t want to wash the containers by hand, and to be fair, garbage is full of germs. Using accumulated tank water is clever, though! I wrote another post on the topic of garbage bags:
http://gaiatribe.geekuniversalis.com/2009/01/27/alternatives-to-plastic-garbage-bags/
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Small Foogprints 06.18.09 at 7:45 am
Wonderful post. Another place to find reusable bags is a thrift store or garage sale. I’ve found a few at our local Good Will.
In my area, Asheville, NC … some stores give a nice discount for using reusable bags and charge if one uses either their plastic or paper bags.
Another idea if one forgets to bring a bag along, ask if the store has cardboard boxes which will be tossed out … they make great carriers and can be recycled.
Have a great day!
Small Footprints
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Elizabeth Barrette Reply:
June 20th, 2009 at 12:21 am
I know at least two stores that routinely use their own big boxes for customers to carry things out — Sam’s Club and Friar Tuck’s. That’s a great idea that more places could use.
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