Comments on: Plastic-free Farmer’s Markets need our thanks!

By: Basal Challenge Week #5 | basal evolution

Basal Challenge Week #5 | basal evolution — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:26:01 +0000

[...] (super cute ones…ECO Bags and Project Green Bag). 2. Give up bottled water. 3. Shop your local Farmer’s Market. 4. Say no to plastic produce bags. 5. Buy from bulk bins when possible. 6. Cut out sodas, juice, [...]

By: Tonia

Tonia — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:08:58 +0000

I truly appreciate this post! Last year I asked the director of our city’s farmers market why they allow the vendors to stock the plastic bags in their stands and hand them out all the time. She said that to get them to stop would “most likely cause a lot of people to stop going to the market because they don’t have their own bags and don’t like their vegetables etc to be up against one another”. I couldn’t believe it! I’d like to take a stand on that by selling reusable bags outside the market – the whole concept still hasn’t caught on yet in Minnesota. Many people up here just think of it as a fad that will go away. Thank you for your posts and I’m a full supporter of No more plastic bags!

By: Melanie Moondaggerz

Melanie Moondaggerz — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:34:05 +0000

Dear Beth,

I heard you on SEE JANE DO. Wow Am I Inspired!!!
My Co op stopped me for Earth Day this year and asked me what I was going to do for Earth Day this year.
I said” Reuse my plastic bags ” My friend saw my picture in the Briar Patch Newsletter and made me an award out of old colored plastic bags with my picture in the center It is hanging above my sink
I had not made the leap to eliminate the bag use by replacing them with cloth bags even though I knew it was possible to buy produce bags made out of cloth. I guess I did not want to buy them.
In the 90′s in Germany I remember going to a festival where everyone broght their own beermug with them: no mug no beer I thought “That would never work in the States”. It has to !!!! The time has come!! I am so not an email person or an activist but no activism no planet hmmm Maybe I can become an activist?!

Thank you Beth!!!

By: froghair

froghair — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:15:56 +0000

Robj — When I do buy doggie bags, I do opt for the biodegradable ones, but in either case, they end up in the landfill, since animal waste still can't go in the yard waste bin, and I thought the biodegradable bags were actually worse for the environment under landfill (anaerobic) conditions… am I wrong?

By: Carmen

Carmen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:17:56 +0000

We do have some great farmers markets over here in the DC Metro area, but they are far from plastic free. How do you initially approach them about this?

By: SusanB

SusanB — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:30:56 +0000

After two years of having to rather aggressively force my reused plastic bags on farmers at the market, I actually had one who used to argue with me thank me last week for having my own bags.
At the very busy weekly market I shop at, one key appears to be providing the farmers with a substitute that makes it as easy (or easier) for them then the plastic bags that they have on hand.
While I personally have no objection to charging 25 cents a bag, I think it would present a problem at my market which tries to be open to a very low income neighboring community in an area where farmer's market prices for local produce (NJ) are already comparatively high compared to supermarket prices for west coast produce.
There appears to be no hope however of eliminating the plastic boxes that everyone puts blueberries in . . . but I covet those to cage my garden plants from squirrels and chipmunks and have yet to have enough so I haven't really pressed the point.

By: John Costigane

John Costigane — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:00:54 +0000

Hi Beth,

Great to see the local markets adopting a Zero Waste approach, with the odd exception. I always explain the reason for avoiding plastic packaging to staff and thank them for any inconvenience.

In the UK, there is an anti-supermarket grouping of farmer's markets, related media and Zero Waste enthusiasts, which advocate local shopping and highlight the downside of cheap ready meals, for example.

Refillables are on the supermarket agenda, at ASDA. This is a breakthrough for our trend which has always been strongly opposed by the large retailers.

By: Green Bean

Green Bean — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:43:39 +0000

Woot! Hope that movement crosses the bay. Over here on the Peninsula, is laden with plastic. I bring my own cloth produce bags that I've picked up here and there – Organic Needle, ReusableBags.com, various farmers markets, and reused bags that seed potatoes came in. I do see more and more people do that or letting their produce go "free range". Still, though, I think plastic is a big big problem at farmers market.

By: Amber

Amber — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:38:59 +0000

I skip plastic bags whenever I can, and will choose to buy things in non-plastic or styrofoam when applicable. Like, say, I choose boxed berries in cardboard instead of clamshell.

But what I really wanted to say was that yesterday for the first time in YEARS I forgot my cloth bags at home. I keep them in my diaper bag so I always have them with me, but somehow they ended up left behind on my stairs. I was embarrassed and upset when I had to use the plastic.

In that case, if there had been a biodegradable option, or a re-use bin, I would have been all over it. Sadly my market has no such thing.

By: Robj98168

Robj98168 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:24:10 +0000

Froghair- why not buy biodegradeble plastic bags for dog poo clean up? Reduction is better than recycling but boidegradablilty is better than permanence I always say!