Are reusable bags doing the good we think they are?
As we accumulate more reusable bags, many of them go unused. Reusable bags are creating their own environmental problems. What’s the answer?
Photo: McIninch/iStockphoto 
Quick Poll
A nonwoven polypropylene bag, for example, would have to be used just 11 times to make up for the negative effects of a plastic bag used one time, according to a British Environment Agency study that compared bags. A cotton bag, however, would have to be used 131 times.
- For consumers, stop accepting free reusable bags that won’t get used. Just like we politely decline the free paper or plastic bags at checkout, we need to start politely declining a free reusable bag that we know we’ll never use again.
- For businesses and organizations wanting to give away bags as freebies for marketing purposes, consider the quality and the usefulness of the bags you’re giving away.
- For legislators, banning or placing a tax on the use of one-time use bags is proving to be effective, while bag giveaways and small rebates for reusable bags are not. When bans and taxes are enforced, people use those reusable bags more often. The use of plastic bags decreases significantly, and fewer plastic bags end up on the sides of roads and in our waterways.
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Comments
Congratulation,L.A ban the using of the Plastic Bags.
I switched to reusable Canvas shopping bags. Much easier to throw in the laundry after each trip to the store!
Reusable bags are only great if you remember to use them.
And please don't forget to toss them in the wash weekly, because recent news stories have noted that when meat etc leaks in the bag and it then is exposed to a hot car that nasties develop and you can get really sick. As did a dozen girls here on the west coast, when they went on an outing where the food they ate had been put in a reusable bag that had had meat leak, dry and then developed a nasty bacteria that the girls.... More
I use reusable - some are freebies and others are well made fabric bags I found on clearance racks.
I rarely forget to bring them in to shop, when I do the bags are used for disposing used litter, kitchen garbage and the like.
I have been able to repair a couple of my reusable former plastic bags, but since some have been used for 1-5 years I will be 'retiring' a couple soon once the repairs start to fail or the handles separate from the bag.
I purchased 1 roll of.... More
This bags are get as pots. I see similar bags sold as specialty pots to grow cannabis and they can run up to $6 for a bag. I can purchase a reusable bag for a buck from the grocer.
I use my reusable bags ALL the time and for just about everything. They are so mulit-functional which is great. And I do wash them. Some have finally disintegrated but they got a ton of use first. Plastic bags are disgusting. There is nothing worse than seeing one dangling from a tree!! Next to plastic water bottles they are a plague on this Planet!!
Plastic Bags is a big problem.for a global warming every day millions tons of Plastic Bags throw to landfill to burn .reusable bags is a good solution for this problem but it need to sanitize from time to time.
So there I am in the electric shopping cart talking myself blue in the face from repeatedly asking the baggers not to put too much into the bags. And there I am later at home trying to lug the filled-to-the-brim bags into the house. For some reason baggers feel the need to put as much as they can into one bag -- regardless of how many bags I hand to them (with the usual, and usually ignored, plea to not make them too heavy). One bagger actually said to me that he only put three items into.... More
The plastic one time use bag isn't the problem. People are the problem. As one person put it "there must be a lot of pigs in their community". I think they are right! We were all told to recycle phone books. Sounds like a good idea until you understand the process. The book is shredded down, additives and glues are added to allow for a type of chemical cooking to take place which changes the molecular structure. This allows for pressing into sheets and then printing. This "new' phone book.... More
I have a ton of reusable bags from conventions and gifts. We rarely used them for a long time except for library books.
Over the past year, we have become much better about using them when shopping--mostly at places that reward shoppers in some way for reusing the bags. For example--CVS with their "green tag" that gives you a dollar with every four uses, Trader Joe's with their ticket to win free groceries, and Target.
On the other hand we tend to be less careful to take them.... More
Donation to homeless shelters is a great idea!
I'm struck and saddened by the comments along the lines of "I resent being told to.." or "That will force me to buy..."
This is the kind of me-centric whining, and enshrinement of the most marginal convenience as the most sacred of Personal Freedom, that I more often associate with conservatives, not progressives who are supposed to step outside themselves and adopt a broader view of which policy will actually result in fewer clogged gutters, fewer suffocating ocean critters, and God Forbid,.... More
Usually, before I can get the words out that I don't need a plastic bag, the checker is already putting groceries into one. When I say that I don't want one, the checker ALWAYS takes the items out of the bag he/she is filling, pulls that bag off the spindle, balls it up and throws it away. Not a blink of the eye. Nothing short of a punch in the mouth seems to stop this.
I learned a trick that you might find helpful. As I am placing my items on the conveyor belt, I tell the checker that I have my own bags and then proceed to place my bags on top of my food items on the conveyor belt. I ALWAYS thank them for using my bags and offer a very brief explanation that it is just my little way of helping save the earth.
I understand your frustration. My best suggestion is, prior to the checker even touching an item of yours, you take time to tell him/her "NO plastic", and be certain you have been heard. That will usually work, unless a sacker comes up after this point and starts tossing your items into a plastic bag.
I am always vigilant, and often get a frustrated sigh from the person who must sack my groceries. I feel, though, that this is part of their job, and if they don't like dealing with.... More
Maybe we should... not use bags at all! We seem to have this idiotic complex that if we replace single-use pollution with reusable pollution, there'll be no pollution. What about production pollution? Same way we think "hybrid cars" are doing good. What happens at the end of their life? The battery definitely can't be reused.
Things were better a thousand years ago, when we didn't even have to make "compromises".
Not use any bags at all? So how will you carry $200 worth of groceries from the store to your car and from your car to your refrigerator? Sorry, what you suggest here doesn't make much sense at all---unless you live in a cave, in which case you won't have to bother with such things as groceries (though you will have to gather nuts and seeds and hunt with a bow and arrow...).
I resent being told to use reusable bags. I use my plastic grocery bags as my garbage bags. This saves me from having to purchase "Glad Bags". Plastic Grocery bags are also responsible for about a .00001 percent of trash at landfills...which is a joke... especially when you consider the other area's we could actually be making an impact in this whole "go green" initiative. There are soo many other areas which make huge environmental impacts that its just stupid to start with plastic bags. .... More
We've been using reusable bags for 2-3 years now. We still occasionally get plastic bags, at the odd store where we forget to take our permanent bags. The plastic are still what we need for cleaning up certain messes, like cat hairballs... I'd say we throw away a plastic bag a week, maybe.
As to cat waste, we use our shredded documents to line paper lunch bags (made from recycled paper) and scoop into that. And plant a new tree or shrub when we can.
Here's how it's going to work. When I go buy some groceries, the first time the grocer tells me I have to pay for reusable bags, that plastic or paper bags are no longer available, or no longer free, I will be instructing the store manager to get my groceries out to my car by whatever means they have available. If they don't, the entire pile of groceries will be left on the checkout counter, and they will give me my money back.
PS: You're reusable bags are more often than not made mostly.... More
Tom, It's people like you who will get charged an inflated price for new, junky, theoretically slightly reusable bags (the ones you mentioned which came from China and made of plastic) at the check-out, before you ever get a total. You will not have the opportunity to complain, especially since they will have signs posted in the parking lot, and at any door where you might enter the store, warning you ahead of time. It will be no one's fault but your own.
My reusable bags are made of.... More
You are an example of what is wrong with the world. People like you.
No, they would simply pass a policy saying no refunds for people who pull that stunt.
So disposable bags are made of plastic, and reusable bags are made of plastic too. (paper bags are made of paper) - So isn't the difference is that they are supposed to be making less of the reusable ones?
I have tried, unsuccessfully, to get my town to pass legislation to ban disposables and require reusables. The town is conservative and chose to go with an "education" model --- encouragement to use bags but no actual "stick." The result? Very few people use reusables and disposables are literally blowing all over this town. I see people who swear they are "with me" on the subject of reusables --- using disposables. I think it's time that we decide what we want to do. If we really.... More
Blowing all over the the town? Really? You're not too much of a drama queen, are you? Gee, where I live we have disposable bags too, and I rarely see these bags blowing all over the town. Sounds like you have a lot of pigs where you live.
Tom wrote: Blowing all over the the town? Really? You're not too much of a drama queen, are you? Gee, where I live we have disposable bags too, and I rarely see these bags blowing all over the town. Sounds like you have a lot of pigs where you live.
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Don't know where the person who made the comment lives, but the worst places to find plastic grocery bags blowing around, are near ocean communities, camp grounds and the grocery stores near them, or.... More
Which, I know, could probably get me thrown into the environmental offenders jail here as I don't eat an all organic diet. But it's actually a very environmentally friendly place- as a side effect of being dirt cheap.
Anyway, at Aldi you have to bag your own stuff AND you have to purchase bags separately. So I use reusable bags there (everything from more durable single use plastic bags to free polypropylene bags to canvas tote bags- 99% freebies). At other stores I use plastic.... More
...small wastebasket liners, to clean the litter box, my pooper scooper uses grocery bags, double bag packages for freezer (deters freezer burn), hauling items to the thrift store, they reuse bags at the thrift store too, (so donate to other thrift stores), Trash bags in the car, LOOK ONLINE for many other uses and crafts! They dont' have to go in the trash immediately!
For me it was small changes. I have a small closet by my front door and the reusable bags hang there just like my coats and jackets. They fold up very easily and when i go somewhere I just cram one into my messenger bag, which goes with me everywhere. That way, if I shop then I am always prepared. I think it just takes a bit of mental rewiring.
We have many bags of various types (grocery bags, briefcases, laptop bags, beach bags, backpacks for bicycling, etc.) and many have been in the family for decades. I can't think of any that were given to me for free (unless you count well-intentioned family members who share--in my family, we consider these bags ownerless and interchangeable.) In all cases, someone purchased the bag. Sometimes when I go to the thrift store, if I've forgotten to bring a bag, I'll buy a used bag for a dollar. .... More
Business conferences, health fairs, etc. Yes, its advertising for them, but free for me. (Being a professional orgnaizer who helps people get RID of "free stuff", I don't accept everything that is free at these gatherings, however.)
We have about 6 re-usable bags, and we use them often. It's not a hard habit to get into. When I think about the number of shopping bags we've avoided over the years just from our household, I realize the potential of how much waste they can avoid.
If you ban plastic carry home bags from the grocery store then I will have to buy garbage bags. Has anyone thought this through? I didn't think so.
Correct, nobody (except for the plastic bag lobbyists looking for red herrings) has thought through the impact on your personal habit that, while commendable, is the extremely scarce exception and not relevant to policy. I'm sure that upwards of 99% of plastic bags go straight to the trash or to clogging up storm drains, and they are a nuisance that should be banned.
I grew up saving plastic bags, which where reused for various purposes (you can even crochet them into reusable bags). I don't think the OP's situation is unusual, at all.
My whole business is based on upcycling/crocheting plastic bags into amazing accessories. People have sent me bags from as far away as Portugal (I'm based in Virginia). My local grocery stores don't mind if I get into their recycle bins. I love what I do, and I love that I can take something that most people think of as garbage and turn it into an incredible, durable accessory.
Crocheting plastic bags into reusable bags is INCREDIBLY genius! I just might start that habit as a freebie.
Wow, crocheting them into reusables - now THAT'S an interesting idea. A bit labor-intensive, but creative.
I use mostly reusables (plastic, but I've been using the same 4 bags for years), and the few times I forget to bring them, I use the disposables for when I scoop the kitty box. Few if any are thrown away.
Reduction versus complete elimination is the idea. ;)
People have been brainwashed into thinking they need any kind of plastic bag for a trash can, waste basket etc. IF you compost kitchen waste, recycle cans/glass/paper you should have little if anything to put in a garbage can.
Picking up dog waste doesn't require a plastic bag! You simply have a Rubbermaid dish glove that you slip on when picking up the poop, which you then place in a small container with a lid and then flush when you get home, or bury.
Growing up we used.... More
I recycle everything I can, and have a worm composter in my kitchen for food scraps and junk mail. I still need a trash bag.
For one thing, the worms cannot process meat waste, and we are not vegetarians. Perhaps you think we should be, but we are not at this time.
It is impractical to use only newspapers to line our trash can. Because we don't throw away very much, things like chicken bones, shrimp shells or trimmed fat would become very ripe within a few days, before.... More
about a year or so ago they were banned. the local grocery stores began selling nice, big reusable bags with a flat bottom. they fold up like a paper bag and have nice webbed handles. FOR A DOLLAR! i bought five of them. i have a family of three and can get two weeks worth of groceries in them. each one holds three to four times the amount as a plastic bag and they don't rip! they sit nicely on the floor of the car. when i clean them, i just wipe the out with a soapy rag and rinse them.... More
The whole thing is just one big scam. If we want to "save the environment" it won't be by guilting ordinary citizend in to forking over more money.
I have to pay for plastic bags now at the grocery store, which I then take home and use as garbage bags. If I can no longer get plastic bags with my groceries then I have to start buying garbage bags or else just throw my trash out on the street.
The whole thing is just an industry concocted by hipster potheads looking to make a.... More
This article really surprised me. I've had four reusable bags for quite a few years and I use them every week. I've never been offered more bags by anyone. If someone were to offer me anything that I wouldn't use, I'd decline the offer. Until I read this article, I couldn't conceive of a problem with there being too many reusable bags. Whatever problem does exist, I think it is centered on a widespread wasteful mindset. That mindset will work against any good idea intended to help the.... More
Everybody seems to be so big on their 'reusable' bags. Granted, plastic bags are bad for the eco-system, but are they themselves not reusable?
I find I can often aviod the need to take the grocery cart to the car, when I
use reusable bags. They can quite strong and with the handles it easy to
put three in each hand. And bags with handle straps that go to the
bottom of the bag are much better.
Just a thought...lots of folks who shop at food pantries or don't have a home to call their own do not have access to all the freebie bags that the rest of us get. I've found that many of these folks would love to have a reusable bag to carry their food home or to stash their belongings in. I donate my extras to the people/orgs that serve these folks so I know they will go to someone who doesn't already have an abundance.
I love my reusable bags, but you do have to make some changes to how you think and making sure the bags are always in the car. As well reusable can harbor bacteria, so it's important to wash them, which totally disintegrates some of the reusables. So I think it's a matter of finding high quality ones that do the job you need them to and put them to work.
