OK, so another fad in green living is the reusable grocery bag. You know the ones that sit at the ends of the grocery isles. And the ones you bought that are sitting in your trunk that you remember as you come to get in line with a full cart...and then you feel guilty and think about buying a whole new set...
And they are not just at the grocery store. They are everywhere. You can even get them with the name of your favorite sports team. I just bought one for my sister at my favorite LOCALLY OWNED retailer, Lily Jane. It is made by Bungalow 360 and is a great sturdy bag. Much sturdier than the cheapies at the store (with a price tag to reflect that). There are even silk shopping bags for the stars with a very hefty price tag of $943. Yikes!
So how much good do these little numbers do? Well just as you suspected, one or two bags do not end global warming...and if they sit in your trunk they do no good at all. But if we use them, do they do good? NPR had an interesting story on this. One thing that really stood out to me was a statement that in the end, only 1% of the environmental impact of a grocery trip is in the bags. About 7% is in the packaging of all the other items in the basket, and 90% of the impact is in products themselves.
So the bottom line is, yes, use reusable shopping bags. They are good for you! But every now and again skip 'em so that you don't have to buy bags to scoop the kitty
litter in or to put in your bathroom trash can. Also, if you do use bags, make sure they make it to a trash can or preferably a recycle bin. Don't let them float around and get stuck in a tree somewhere...that is so tacky! :) And if you spend big bucks on them, don't think that this is money invested into the environment...a silk shopping bag is all about the look. But a sturdy canvas bag will actually last longer, so it may be a good investment.
THis one is a little number I made from an old t-shirt. Not so great to look at, but works well and is the ultimate way to repurpose something old to do something good.Reduce Reuse Recycle Repeat!!
I love that you point out here that the things that make the most impact are the things we don't see. We notice the bags the most because they are in our faces - they're floating around our house, in gutters or blowing around the streets, holding our cat litter (yes, me too!). The packaging we notice a little less because it's often a small amount and goes right into our garbage can (or okay, maybe our recycle bins. I look for 1 and 2 plastics now or - even better - paperboard packaging, but when push comes to shove, do I actually rule out products based on their packaging? Not usually). The product itself, which we don't think of as even having an environmental impact necessarily because it's not "trash," is the biggest impact.
ReplyDeleteI think it just shows how, even though the things we do on a small scale are important, it's so vital to push for change at a higher level, because that's where the real difference can be made.