Reusable shopping bags have become very popular. Cloth bags have cut down on the manufacture of new plastic bags, which in turn has cut down on a lot of pollution and CO2 emissions. They have also helped reduce the waste plastic bags create. I’m sure you’ve seen images
like this one of bags hung up in trees and scattered on the side of the road. On my bike rides, I see them tangled in barbed wire fences, and I can here them flapping in the wind. What an awful sound in a place where I should only hear my bike tires on the road and the sounds of cows and crows. (photo: flickr cuttlefish)
Most of you probably have a drawer full of these, even as you switched to fabric reusable bags. But buying a reusable bag defeats the purpose of saving energy, when you have a bunch at home still.
Reuse/recycle the plastic shopping bags you have!
I never see anyone in the grocery store with an old Wal Mart or Albertson’s bag. Everyone has rushed out to buy a new bag, possibly made in China of plastic, probably from some online retailer, who then has to ship it to you. That’s a lot of embodied energy in a supposedly green item!
Using the plastic bags you already have at home seems to be the most logical choice when you are switching to reusables. Once you have used those up, THEN go to a local store and buy a reusable cloth bag hopefully made by a local artist or, at least, by a company in your city or state.
Throwing away something perfectly usable to buy something that is more eco-friendly is not eco-friendly at all.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Loving the info on this site, you have done outstanding job on the posts .
{ 1 trackback }