x24,Top3,TopLeft,x25,x12
Precycle
a discovery company

Ready, Set, Green, Week Two: Bag It

Blythe Copeland tries to find an alternative to plastic bags—that she can actually remember to take with her.

Team Planet Green

By Team Planet Green
Silver Spring, MD, USA | Wed Jun 25, 2008 05:33 AM ET

Canvas bag


Jeffrey Hamilton/Getty Images

I am so over plastic bags. Ever since the day the cashier used four bags to pack three items, I've been trying to avoid using them whenever possible. The only problem is, I can never remember to take my own bag along with me. So this week I've been working on carrying a medium sized canvas tote: big enough for a few groceries, a stop at the library, and a run to the drugstore, but not ridiculously oversized.

It's not going so well. I take it to the supermarket while getting dessert for the family birthday we're hosting, but since dessert is ice cream and whipped cream with strawberries, I take a plastic bag anyway to prevent the bag from getting soaked with condensation. I stop at the mall to get a present for the party as well—it's a tote bag, which they put in a plastic bag. When I try to stop them, the salesman tells me that without the plastic bag, security will think I'm stealing the tote. I do better at Target, where one of my buys is a plastic storage bin and I convince the eager bagger to put all the smaller items into it. The next day, I walk to a market down the street from my apartment for a few fresh veggies and, while I'm proud of myself for choosing the local food and walking instead of driving, I get there and realize I've forgotten the canvas bag completely. Sigh.

So now I'm thinking I need to get a few shopping bags—preferably lined in case of leaks or spills—that I can keep in my car, or by the door, always at the ready. But isn't buying more plastic bags still going to increase the massive amount of stuff already in the world? I could use some help: feel free to leave your suggestions for eco-friendly, easy to clean, inexpensive shopping bags in the comments. For now, I'm off to find a way to recycle—or, better yet, reuse — all these plastic bags that keep piling up.

More about Plastic Bags:
Bring Your Own Bag
Recycle Plastics By Number

Paper or Plastic?
Q&A: Retail Carry Bags

Reusing Plastic Bags
Best Use of Plastic Bags

Buy the Book
Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living

Blythe Copeland is a freelancer writer living on Long Island. Read more about her foray into the green life in her previous columns as she follows the plan set out in the book Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living.

 
  • email
  • digg
  • share
  • print
helpful article? vote for it
{ }
close window

CLOSE X

 

comments on this article

view all post a comment

 
 
Search is temporarily unavailable
 
 
Emeril Kelly and Supper Club Recipes by Category
 
 
facebook twitter rss
 
Reel Impact
 
100 Mile Challenge
 
organic-az
 
Less is More Thanksgiving
 

tv schedule

view all

On Now

On Tonight

 

today on planet green

view all

Votes

recent
discussed

Water: Get to Know It, Then Conserve It
POSTED  5 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Soup of the Week: Bean and Kale Soup
POSTED  7 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

P is For Potatoes: Pommes Anna with Sweet Potatoes
POSTED  8 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Organic A-Z: Potatoes
POSTED  10 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Organic A-Z: Olives
POSTED  21 Nov 2009.  COMMENTS

{ }

Renovation Nation FAQ
POSTED  7 May 2009. 18 COMMENTS.

{167}

Ask Steve Thomas Anything (About Your Home)
POSTED  9 Feb 2009. 20 COMMENTS.

{387}

Emeril Green FAQ
POSTED  17 Dec 2008. 19 COMMENTS.

{308}

Ask Emeril Your Green Cooking Questions
POSTED  7 Apr 2009. 49 COMMENTS.

{500}

How to Go Green: Weddings
POSTED  9 May 2009. 9 COMMENTS.

{475}

 
 
TLC Cooking
 

Ads by Google