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Dooood, I have been answering "neither" for years

Rarely do I get high on my green horse... but I seriously thought myself so clever when as a teenager shopping with my mom I would answer "neither" to the baggers and then whip out my duffle bag.

 

However, I am FAR from eco perfect.  To prove that, I took this quiz, called My FootPrint, which tells you just how many planets we would need if everyone on the planet lived like you do.  As I walked down this path to eco-enlightment via a computer tool, I became excited to see my results -- I guess getting a little high on my green horse.  I don’t eat meat; I recycle; I drive a 25 mpg Jetta  only when horseback won’t get me there; and of course - I don’t choose between paper or plastic because I bring my own bag to the supermarket.  I welcomed the opportunity to assess my ecological footprint.   

 

The results are displayed like this:  "if everyone lived like you, we would need __ planets." My score, in large thanks to air travel, is 3.9 planets!  I found a shallow ‘victory’ for at least coming in below the average ecological footprint in the US:  6 planets. 

 

Beyond this pointing to the fact that we can't smooth out the world's inequalities by making the poor much richer (because if everybody lived like the average American it really would take 6 planets to meet all our needs), it told me that we all have to find a big bang for the buck way to travel in class… green class.  So, now I am committed to offsetting my air travel emissions.  Emission offsetting means that you purchase a corresponding number of trees or clean energy credits to neutralize your carbon contribution from your flight.  But that is a different tip.

 

Off to order reusable, sassy shopping bags for Ideal Bite... let me know if you want to preorder one... they are going to rock. - Jen

Posted by: jboulden on 09/07/2006
related tip
Answer: Neither. Shopping bags create an insane amount of waste for something that's often in our lives for fewer than 5 minutes (store to car, car to house). Next time you grocery shop, BYOB (bring your own bag).
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Mia  on November 19, 2007 at 09:49 AM 51
Greendimes.com offers a great little bag that folds into a pouch on a keychain - so it is easy to carry with you everywhere. It is great for the mall or Target. The bags are $5.
Tricia  on January 28, 2008 at 10:23 AM 52
I have about 10,000 plastic grocery bags and someone told me you can make fleece out of them. Does anyone know if this is true?
jane  on March 11, 2008 at 12:58 PM 53
You can make cloth bags out of any material. some wear out faster. i make mine out of old sheets, tshirts, old fleece blankets, old nightgowns, flannel, broad cloth, ugly drapes. anything, old sweatshirts. knit them, crochet them. sew them. Takes a day sewing, takes longer if you knit or crochet slower. but its worth it. doesnt matter if its ugly, you are saving the world right??
jane  on March 11, 2008 at 01:02 PM 54
to any of those that say it takes 50+ for shopping trips, I notice that cloth, even if they seem small, seem to pack in twice as much, i went into WINCO and got a cart full of groceries and got out with 8 cloth bags. and they werent big ones. just library size totes. normally that would be about 16ish plastic bags. and even if you just use one or two totes, its better than a few plastic. start small, its still saving the world a little at a time. youd be suprised how much they hold and how much easier they are to carry. they dont dig into your hands!
Miss Kitty  on April 08, 2008 at 06:32 AM 55
I think eventually, even here in the U.S., most stores will phase out the plastic bags. For them, it will be a financial choice as the cost of those "free" bags is a business expense they would be happy to get rid of. This website, www.sexyoldbag.com, has knit fabric bags for about $4 each that are shaped like a plastic bag, so they hang on the bag rack at the store and are easy for baggers to use. I've had baggers almost refuse to bag my groceries, until I show them how they work and they realize that they won't be any more effort for them. (I could comment on how wrong this is, just from a customer service standpoint; I am the customer, after all, and I thought I was always "right"...anyway...) The fabric bags can hold a lot more than a plastic bag, because they don't puncture easily like plastic or break if there's too much weight inside. As someone else suggested, you can easily use half or one-third the amount of fabric bags as you would normally use of the plastic bags.
Miss Kitty  on April 29, 2008 at 03:46 AM 56
Tricia mentioned above that she has 10,000 plastic bags, and wonders what they will be recycled into. I've read that some stores who claim to recycle plastic bags really just throw them away. So, before you go to the effort of taking in that many bags for recycling (where did they all come from, anyway?! Did you collect that many just from trips to the store? Or have you been picking up trash?) you probably want to make sure what will actually happen to them.
Display Booths  on October 19, 2008 at 02:53 PM 57
I prefer to use biodegrable bags for my garbage and cat litter, after all it is biodegrable cat litter, as far as what happens in the landfill I don’t know but it has got to be better than plastic. Display Booths
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Ashley  on June 29, 2009 at 06:50 AM 59
For those who were questioning what to use for their garbage, I would say that lots of companies are doing their best to manufacture plastic bags that are better for the environment. The company I represent is introducing a new line of plastic bags that are made from: 100% recycled plastic 100% oxodegradable 100% recyclable These EconoGreen bags and drop cloths will completely break down within 2 years after use. Considerably less than traditional plastic bags and especially grocery bags that we use as garbage bags. More information visit our website at http://www.jigaloo.com/ca/e_products_econogreen.php
sunny  on November 12, 2009 at 07:38 PM 60
I get so annoyed by the excused byed hardy ed hardy clothing ralph lauren polo juicy couture them.
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