Saturday, March 3, 2012

Plastic Baggage

Today I want to talk about the irrational love our society has for disposable plastic bags.  When we get to the cashier at a grocery store, a convenience store, a drugstore, or any other type of store we buy whatever it is that we came for and cheerfully walk out with a thin, non-durable, ugly plastic bag in hand.

Why?

It's convenient.

But is it, really?



These bags have a tendency to rip.  Groceries can fall through a rip at the bottom and land all over the ground.  It's not very convenient to pick up the mess left behind after that.

Nor is it convenient to have a pile of plastic bags lying all over our counters that we have to clear away in some form.  Throw them in the trash?  Yeah, now we have the inconvenience of added waste that we have to take outside to the trash sooner than we otherwise would. 

Store them in a cabinet so that we can be responsible and use them for something else later?  That may work for some people, but in most cases, we end up with overstuffed cabinets that are good for nothing more than mouse bedding... and even mice tend to stay away from those bags.

So plastic bags aren't really convenient at all.

Reusable bags, however, are very convenient.  Gone is the cabinet mess when you bring your own bags to the store, since you end up using fewer of them.  They're also much more durable than their disposable counterparts.  Fill them to the brim and they still don't tear.  No more worries about perishables ending up all over the pavement or the kitchen floor.  How awesome is that?

You don't actually have to buy reusable bags from your grocery store.  If you look in your closets you're sure to find an unused canvas bag or two.  You can use backpacks.  You can use old purses.  You can even make them yourself, if you're so inclined.

Don't get me wrong.  Bringing your own bags to the grocery store requires conscious effort, at first.  In my case, it took months before I consistently remembered to bring reusable bags along every time I went to the store.

But practice makes perfect, as they say, and now I do it subconsciously. 

The best way to train yourself to actually bring reusable bags to the store with you is to keep them where you see them as you walk out the door.  I have a little hook that I hang mine on.  Of course, I still manage to forget my bags when I'm in a rush, so I keep one in the car, as well.

It's a process.  It takes time.  As long as the motivation is there, though, and you have the patience, it can be done.  Yes, even green boots leave trails, but we can lighten those trails significantly simply by taking small steps toward environmental responsibility.

Still not convinced that something so simple can make a big difference?  My post on the environmental impact of plastic bags is coming soon.

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