A few months ago, my wife handed me a bunch of reusable canvas bags with the grocery list and with a smile, asked me to do my part. I felt like an idiot walking into our local Kroger with a basket full of bags. When I did a little bit of research, I learned from MSNBC that the average family of 4 uses 1500 plastic grocery bags in a year and these can take thousands of years to degrade. Being a family of 6, we would use 2250 bags.
What I have noticed over the past several weeks, is that I no longer feel weird about it…in fact…when stopping in at the grocery tonight and using the self-checkout, I felt guilty using plastic bags. I find myself picking up a few things and skipping the bag altogether.
You may not think that this little step has much of an impact, but in a year, based on 1500 bags per 4 people and 1,000,000 people in the MSA of Memphis, we could save 375,000,000 bags. How much landfill space would that reserve for disposable diapers…I will digress on that one until a later post…
Kudos to you- we’re trying to get there. We shop occasionally at ALDI where you have bags only if you buy or bring them. We try to keep bags in our trunk for reuse, and also discovered that Kroger takes plastic bags for recycling.
We bought an eco-friendly bag at ALDI (a great deal at $2 or $3 for a large bag) but admittedly haven’t yet used it. After reading the numbers you posted, I pledge to use the reusable canvas bag the next time I head to any grocery store…
Good for you. I was looking at the plastic bags lingering in my kitchen this morning from last night’s trip to the grocery and thought, “what a nuisance.” Now I’m reminded they’re also harmful to the environment. I need to follow your lead, Brandon.
Keeping some bags in the car (behind the seat works great)means they are always available. I also like how canvas holds more, and more securely, than the flimsy plastic bags.
Our family uses the giant Sam’s bags that we got for $2 a piece (I think). They will fit roughly $60 worth of food in one. I find myself feeling guilty for using plastic bags too. Though we use a couple of them at home, it’s nowhere near the amount we used to get buying groceries. Keep in mind you can also recycle the bags at many grocery stores like the midtown Schnuck’s.