How to Choose a Reusable Shopping Bag
Paper or Plastic? What is the Best Green, Eco-Friendly Choice?
Dec 2, 2008
What is Wrong with Using Plastic Shopping Bags?
They are reusable and recyclable, except that large amounts of oil are used to manufacture and recycle them. The Worldwatch Institute estimates that "Americans use 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year." Most of them are thrown away. Only a small percentage actually get recycled, less than 20 %. These discarded bags are filling up our landfills and oceans.
What is the Matter with Choosing Paper Bags?
The classic paper bag, while actually biodegradable, is still fraught with ecological problems. According to Christy Jones: "14 million trees were cut down to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans in [one] year alone." It may seem innocuous when you, as one shopper, get your paper bag, but multiply that bag, by 10 billion and that's a lot of trees sacrificed for billions of one-use, trashed items. Again, most end up piled in landfills, where without adequate light and air they won't decompose any time soon.
How Do We Make the Choice?
Behold: The choice behind Door #3! Many stores now offer inexpensive, reusable shopping bags at their checkout counters. Often these bags cost around $1, sometimes a little more. They can be used repeatedly. They are washable. They have helpful handles. Also, they hold more than the typical, plastic bag and stores will often give a few cents discount for using them. A small drawback is that sometimes they will have the logo of the store you bought it in—not so stylish. When shopping you may raise the eyebrows of a few cashiers, if you use a competitor's bag!
You Can Save The Planet!
Resuable bags can be just that: reused, again and again. They are often made of recycled items. They can save animals from sea turtles to whales, who mistake plastic pieces for food. And you can save the landfills from trillions of tons of trash. In Suite101 article A Green Policy on Plastic Bag Use, Laurence O'Sullivan says,"Each individual person can make a personal decision to adopt a more eco friendly habit by shopping using reusable bags...enough people make it, the effect would be global."
High Fashion, Green Chic?
Reusable shopping bags may have started out plain and simple, decorated with grocery store advertising, but now, they have become big business and very chic! Martha Stewart regularly hosts various celebrity-designed recyclable bags on her show. Many green artisans online and in boutiques are creating beautiful and functionable, eco-friendly bags, with prices ranging usually around $10 to $15 Here are a few interesting ones to try out:
- ACME Earth Tote: ACME EarthTotes, simple and earthy, are the same size as the standard paper grocery bag and have a lifetime guarantee. They stand up by themselves, a big help while loading groceries!
- WhatsURbag: Manufactured in New Orleans. According to Treehugger Magazine, "These reusable shopping bags that support Americansas well as a green lifestyle, with emphasis on style." It is made from a newly designed, strong and flexible fabric, trademarked as "its-laS-tik"(TM).
- Prudent Green Bags: These beautiful bags are made from reclaimed Indian saris and fold up into a pocket on the bag, to easily fit in a purse. Therefore, you can always have a shopping bag with you. Each one is unique. You can choose from various color schemes: pastel, bright or earthtones.
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