Comments on: An Environmental Break–Why Can’t We Do This?

By: Anna-Kate

Anna-Kate — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:04:08 +0000

I use cloth bags that I get at conferences for grocer bags. On occasion when I forget those bags and do have to use plastic bags I use the plastics for garbage bags. While most of my trash is recycled or put in my cricket compost, there is still some stuff that has to go in the trash… I would like to see an environmentally friendly Non plastic bag solution for the trash that does have to go out on the curb.

About my composting system which is not really composting at all… I have a terrarium where I bread crickets who eat the “compost” items and a terrarium with a lizard who eats the excess crickets… it sounds like summer all year round in my kitchen! FYI crickets will eat anything you give them!

By: Dennis Harter

Dennis Harter — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:52:37 +0000

In Bangkok, our own students started this campaign and got major grocery stores in the area to adopt their plan of cloth bags. Completely a kid-driven initiative. It was awesome. Here's a link to the story on it. The newspaper links don't work anymore as classic Bangkok Post style, they moved the article and didn't leave a permalink.

By: meg griffin

meg griffin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:08:49 +0000

Ireland is leading the way in other common sense ways as well. We spent last Christmas there and two things struck me…
1 – NO SMOKING in bars, pubs, restaurants. It was lovely!!
and
2 – No DUI’s. The tolerance for BAC is (I believe) ZERO!! So everyone takes taxis or has designated drivers. Coming out of pubs at night there are waves of taxis.
The Celtic Tiger is certainly an example to follow!

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:02:16 +0000

Kroger sells two types of blue rectangle bags, but for $2-3, I think (how are Fred Meyer’s so much less expensive?). They give you $.05 off for each cloth bag you use. Half Price Books sometimes gives a few cents off your total if you tell them you don’t need a bag, but not always, so I’m not sure how that works.

It’s exciting to see a little more public acceptance of the idea – having store employees smile when you bring cloth bags really does make a difference.

If anyone’s looking for more little steps to take: I just switched from daily Styrofoam cups (free at work) for coffee to a re-usable mug (about $10-15, I bought one I liked so I would continue using it). It’s one of those “if everyone did this we would save xx million tons of trash and pollution each day” things. Of course, save and re-use any plastic bags you get.

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:42:21 +0000

All,

I must say that I simply do not understand why everyone including the grocery chains would not embrace the idea of charging for both plastic and paper bags. We use cloth bags and I can’t say that we really get the strange looks some of you refer too perhaps we are always getting strange looks and we are just use to it! Anyway, if you have a bunch of plastic bags at home you can “upcycle” them and make them into more interesting and useful products. To see what I’m talking about check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB1mE8e35UY

By: Pam Hansen

Pam Hansen — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:37:54 +0000

I have been using cloth bags for 15 years. It takes discipline on two levels for me to be successful. 1. I have to remember to put them back in my car when I am finished or I get to the store and bring home plastic instead. 2. I have to educate the baggers on how to load them properly or else they end up half empty with an addendum of several plastic bags in my cart. My next goal is to eliminate all the other plastic bags from purchases of items at stores other than the grocery. I feel good about not only about doing my small part to eliminate the use of plastic bags but also reducing the clutter at home. As a society we should demand that the companies we do business with be more responsible regarding their packaging including bags.

By: Matt Montagne

Matt Montagne — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:24:43 +0000

I know Whole Foods just announced the end of plastic bags in their grocery stores starting on Earth Day 2008…I was hoping they would eliminate disposable bags of all types, but they will still be offering paper. But this is still incredibly exciting news. I know our government won’t take leadership on these issues, so it is nice that at least one grocery story is doing it. We’re talking about doing a re-useable bag drive at my school to raise awareness and help people eliminate their use of plastic/disposable bags.

By: Matthew Fisher

Matthew Fisher — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:01:27 +0000

In this country Aldi supermarkets charge per bag, at the end of transaction the cashier asks you if you want to purchase bags. I don’t remember what they charge but it was significant enough where it was common to see people using used bags.

By: Conn McQuinn

Conn McQuinn — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:25:58 +0000

Our local Seattle chain (Fred Meyer) sells fabric bags for 99 cents and gives you a nickel every time you use them. They have square bottoms and a stiff little insert so they sit flat while being loaded. The clerks love them, almost always comment on how much easier they are to load and how much more they can hold. They just started doing it last year, but they have become very popular very quickly, and now are available in a variety of colors and styles. And if you buy six bottles of wine, they’ll give you a special fabric wine sack for free!

By: Kay Reinoehl

Kay Reinoehl — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:32:04 +0000

Bio-degradable compost bags that I use. Should work well for doggie bags as well.

http://www.gardeners.com/Biobag+compost+pail+liners/20707,34-028,default,cp.html

By: Kate Tabor

Kate Tabor — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:18:00 +0000

I shopped yesterday morning at three grocery stores in my usual hunting and gathering for the week. My bag of bags is becoming commonplace, and two of the large national chains here in Chicago now encourage reusable bags. Just like on Club Penguin, when all the penguins jump on the edge of the iceberg, you never know which penguin will tip the berg! So I keep bringing my bags and don’t care about the grumpy looks.

By: Elizabeth Koch

Elizabeth Koch — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:04:58 +0000

Funny that I should read this today, only minutes after I was just completely floored by something I read in Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind:

“When we can’t store our many things, we just throw them away. As business writer Polly LaBarre notes, ‘The United States spends more on trash bags than ninety other countries spend on everything. In other words, the receptacles of our WASTE cost more than all of the goods consumed by nearly half of the world’s nations.’”

Unbelievable!

By: Robert Rowe

Robert Rowe — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:40:27 +0000

It’s interesting that Ireland taxed the use of plastic bags, where, in the US, *some* stores reward people for using cloth bags. When I began working at Weis Market part-time, we actually had to sit through a training video on why we use plastic bags instead of paper. Then the manager said off-the-cuff, “Oh, btw, we do sell cloth bags and offer a slight discount for customers using them…but you’ll most likely never see it happen.” *sighs*
At least I do!

By: Edward

Edward — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:17:25 +0000

Just in case anyone doubts the veracity or accuracy of the Irish example cited above, I can verify that the contrast in Ireland before the tax and afterwards was stark. No longer do you see plastic bags hanging off all the hedgerows and people are now much more aware that they have a tangible effect on the environment and a responsibility towards it.

Even if plastic bags were free, I don’t think anyone here would go back and use them. The tax of plastics bags has complete public support and to use them is now socially unacceptable.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:38:02 +0000

There tends to be a strong sense of righteousness in the USA (as Tim said above), and a desire to ‘stick to our guns’. Like most people in the world, we are also naturally hesitant to change due to fear of what the unknown holds (“change will be worse” is the genetic default human assumption so we can remain safe from harm).

And yes, it is weird that this even applies to using cloth bags in stores (I do) vs. continually damaging the environment more than necessary. We don’t see it, so we don’t get it.

I know our kids will enjoy this.