Be careful on the Reusable Bags Bandwagon
With the recent surge in anti-plastic bag sentiments, a lot of folks are jumping on the reusable bags bandwagon. I think it’s great that people are starting to give a thought to the bags that they use to carry their purchases home. But not all bags are created equal, and I wish more people would think about the type of reusable bag they choose, rather than rashly purchasing the cutest thing they see in another expression of thoughtless consumption.
I’ve been thinking about the issue of reusable bags for some time, but I am moved to sit down and actually write this out tonight after reading a review of Reisenthel’s nylon shopping bags on SustainLane.com. The reviewer says that she was glad to find the compact, foldable Reisenthel bags, made by a German company, because she sometimes forgets to take her large Trader Joe’s tote bag with her and ends up with a collection of new plastic bags from the store. With the Reisenthel nylon bags in her purse, she is never caught without a container for her groceries and doesn’t have to take home new plastic bags.
Sound good? Let me put this a different way. This person said she has a collection of plastic bags. Get it? SHE ALREADY HAS A COLLECTION OF PLASTIC BAGS. Why does she need to spend money on virgin petroleum-based bags shipped from Germany to carry her groceries? She has plastic bags! Plastic bags are easy to fold up and keep in your purse or backpack. They’re just not as cute as hip nylon bags and they don’t scream “Environmentalist” when you carry your groceries down the street. So you want people to know you reuse your bags? Turn them inside out and write “Reusable Bag” on the outside. You could even make a tally of the number of times the bag has been used just to prove it.
Okay, so plastic grocery bags are not trendy or elegant, and they may even scream “Bag Lady” as you pull them out of your purse. If that’s your hang up, there are other options for reusable bags that don’t require virgin petroleum to produce. First, as one reader commented, many people have a closet full of bags (promotional tote bags, etc.) that need a home. Try and find a bag on Freecycle or Craigslist or in a thrift store. You can even buy a synthetic bag this way with a clear conscience, knowing that you are both saving this one from a landfill and not causing any new synthetic bags to be born.
Another option besides buying bags is to make your own. For those with the time, skills, and desire, Heather T. at Make-A-Bag-Along is collecting patterns and instructions for sewing, knitting, and crocheting your own reusable shopping bags. There’re even instructions for knitting one big new tote out of many used plastic grocery bags that will last much longer than each small one. And no virgin plastic is consumed in the process. Make-A-Bag-Along is a new site, and Heather needs ideas. If you are crafty, I encourage you to visit the site and share any ideas you might have for making your own bags.
Finally, whatever type of bag we choose to carry our groceries, the main point of this article is that we all need to stay awake and aware. It’s easy to be swayed by “green” marketing language that is really just a masked come-on for mindless consumption. It’s not so easy to see past the advertising to the reality that the best way to step lightly on the earth is to stick to the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order. Nowhere in that list is Buy More Crap.
Maybe she reuses the plastic bags as garbage bags or dog waste bags (thus not buying single use garbage bags) and doesn’t actually have them just laying around the house gathering dust.
I like the turn it inside out and write “I’m a reusable bag”. Funny. Could do that with plastic cups and forks the drive-thru fast food places give you.
What about Chico bags? I have one in my purse and pull it out whenever I forget my basket. This Chico bag makes me happy. A friend gave it to me. I am thinking of getting some to give guests at my B&B. Don’t you think having a collapsible bag that you can carry at all times and use when needed to avoid plastic bags is a good thing?
Yes. I love Chico Bags. They are extremely convenient and save many, many disposable bags. Plus the company is very active in the anti-plastic bag movement. I wrote this post a long time ago, and its tone is probably more judgmental that if I had written it now. However, I do think it’s important to ask ourselves if we really need new “green” things and to reuse what we already have first.
Thanks for this–I bought some bags from reusablebags.com a couple of years ago, and they are awesome–but then they spent the next year or so until I officially removed myself from their mailing lists because they kept sending emails and sales and promotions and desperately trying to get me to buy MORE reusable bags. I’m like, okay, the whole point was that I’d have maybe 3 or 4 bags and that’s all I’ll need for the indefinite future…
I still like my cloth bags, and I really don’t much like the plastic ones from the store (you can hardly carry anything in them!), but your’e right–how many does one need?
Hello, I know this post is a couple of years old but I thought I would add my 2 cents worth. What I do is instead of getting a t-shirt/hat/shot glass/junk from a vacation I get a canvas bag that has something meaningful from that place on it. For instance, I have a canvas bag from the Chicago Museum of Art and a canvas bag from Boston with a picture of the little duck statues on it. Everytime I pull out a bag to use it for shopping/carrying things it takes me back to those wonderful vactions I had. People now give me cloth bags as presents and when I use them I am reminded about that person. (Can you tell I’m a bit sentimental?)
Thanks, anonymous. You are so right. I forgot to mention used bags. In fact, I just added a paragraph to my original post. I’m glad you reminded me.