The GreenRoost Blog

Photo credit to www.igotmybag.org

Why?, you ask, since the store provides bags for you.  Or maybe you’re one of those well-meaning souls who takes them faithfully…and leaves them in the car.

BAYROC, the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition’s BYOBag campaign website gives plenty of reasons:

1.  Each year the US consumes 30 billion plastic bags and 10 billion paper bags, which requires 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees.  (The plastic bag consumption figure has tripled according to a USA Today story from this March.)

2.  Paper isn’t better; the pulp and paper industry is the second largest industrial user of energy in the US.  Plastic bags require at least 40% less energy to make than paper and produce less than half the greenhouse gases.  They can also be recycled into items like construction materials, decking, and more bags.

3.  More than 46,000 pieces of plastic contaminate each square mile of our oceans.

4.  Over 100,000 marine animals die annually from plastic entanglement.

5.  Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled yearly.

Various countries around the world are taking measures to reduce disposable bag usage.  The most logical to me is to charge for the disposables, like they do in Ireland and  Switzerland and reward those who use bags that are meant to be reused many times, like Whole Foods does.  It seems to make it a little easier to remember if you’re going to have to pay 15 - 20 cents a pop just for bags to carry your stuff home, or if you’re going to get money off for doing something good anyway.

That’s a very common difficulty, sometimes the only thing keeping certain shoppers from refusing paper and plastic - they simply forget them in their vehicle, or at home.  The BYOBag site addresses this as well with myriad suggestions.  For my part, I have a certain place where I hang my reusable bags in my kitchen after unpacking them.  Since my shopping list and coupons are also kept on a shelf in my kitchen, everything is conveniently located for my next shopping trip.  On the rare occasion that I DO forget my bags in the car, I simply go back for them before checking out, or bag my items at the car if the weather permits.  For those with children, I really like the idea of having them remember what you’re supposed to do…if yours are anything like my sister’s, they’ll never let you suffer a memory lapse!

Lastly, one of the best suggestions I can offer is to talk to people about it.  The more it’s on your mind, the more you’ll think about it and the easier it will be to remember.  Plus, you’re spreading the news, which is always a good thing!  So the next time a bagger asks you if you’d like paper or plastic, tell them, “Neither!”

Visit BAYROC’s BYOBag campaign site and USA Today for more information.  Check out these reusable bags that carry at least twice as much as plastic grocery bags.