Re-Useable Shopping Bags

[bmccasland]

I have various canvas bags I've acquired over the years that I use for groceries - including 10 yr old Safeway bags. But the bag I use the most is a little bag, "lunch" sized, that I got at a quilt seminar - not made in a Chinese sweatshop, but a quilt guild "sweat shop" in preparation for the seminar. The ladies made about 150 of the completely lined little bags to hold our Welcome goodies. I use it to bring my lunch to work, mail, and all those odd small bits that don't fit in my purse that I only need to take somewhere occasionally.

As for plastic store bags - I do still use them - for used kitty litter. Maybe if I had a larger yard, and could build a bigger compost pile, AND get the kitties used to a compostable variety of kitty litter, we could eliminate the need to dispose of their waste. But there you have it, I admit I send poo to the dump on a regular basis. But my weekly garbage pile is still much smaller than my neighbors.

On a side note - while I was choosing something in WF, and commenting that the variety I used to buy was no longer available to an empolyeee nearby - he said that they had similar sauce available, right here in a glass jar. Told him, maybe so, but I can't recycle the glass jar, and I can recycle cans. Glass recycling isn't available in my area. If the sauces taste about the same, then I'll choose once that comes in a container that I can recycle.
I don't know if my comment made a difference, but canned variety is back on the shelves.

[NoNo]

I have several (maybe 4) from the supermarket, another one from there that's supposedly insulated, one I got at a bike ride, and my newest one my aunt made for me for Easter. It's reversible and is orange on one side and has pictures of sushi on the other

I leave at least 2 in the car at all times and have gotten much better about remembering them when I go into the store, and more importantly, remembering to put them back in the car once I get home. I also use them as my carry bag on the rare day I drive to work to throw my lunch and stuff in. When I take the train, I use a sil-sac to carry my lunch in, in case something leaks. It's saved me on several occassions

Edit: Forget about bringing the bags in. How many of you have brought the bags, told the cashier or bagger that you have your own bags, and then they continue to bag them in plastic bags? Drives me nuts!

[PamNY]

At the pet store we have biodegradable bags made of corn. They suck because they're really weak, but it's Boulder so we rarely use them.

??? Dogs don't poop in Boulder?

I've been using fabric bags (or more likely my backpack) for shopping for years. The idea that this is all new is somewhat comical. I don't use a car, so that changes the equation; I don't always have a bag with me, though I usually do.

The only advantage to the bags sold specifically as replacements for the standard plastic bag is that they are great for hanging on my Xootr. Paper or plastic bags get banged up and more than once I've lost a lemon or two. If I have a really heavy load, I use a backpack because I can hang it with the bag facing me. Putting weight forward makes the scooter unbalanced when I hop off. Messes up my perfect curb jump, and the rear wheel could swing around and bang someone in the ankle.

ETA: If you don't want to buy a new reusable bag, thrift shops usually have plenty of the bags given away at conferences, etc.

Pam

[OakLeaf]

How many of you have brought the bags, told the cashier or bagger that you have your own bags, and then they continue to bag them in plastic bags? Drives me nuts!

And if you refuse their bag, they'll THROW IT AWAY.

I try to bag my own stuff. If you let the store baggers do it, they'll put your greens at the bottom and canned goods on top, every single time. If I beat them to the end of the conveyor belt, then I don't have to worry about it.

I'm just happy they updated the firmware in the self-check aisles so I can bag as I check out, rather than having to do it all after I've paid (or alert the attendant to key a weight override before starting) like you used to have to.

[shootingstar]

As far as the self-checkout, of the four grocery stores I use, only one has self-checkout, and sure I do prefer it, but so does everyone else, so the lines are really long. Two of the stores are small and locally owned (and there's rarely any line for me to hold up), so it's a simple matter of courtesy and human interaction to chat with the owners and employees while they're ringing me out.

..................................And if I buy yet another bike that's capable of carrying more groceries rather than an expensive and jerry-rigged conversion of my race bike into a commuter, well, that's another less than ideal choice. So sue me.

I know it doesn't require super amount of effort to carry cloth bags inside my panniers...but since we don't have a car and never will, and the bike is for going around everywhere, doing everything (well, non-super rainy/snowy weather), then I'm not going to beat myself up for non-environmental infraction.

There are times the constant opening up of panniers to place more bought items, ritual of parking a bike at every single errand stop several times, in 1 day is a drag...but no more than hunting around for 5-10 min. for a car parking spot.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Where do you get them for 99c? Every time I see them for sale, they're $7 or $8

At the supermarket- they are "Price Chopper" brand, 99 cents each. They've been selling them for a couple years now.
I also see them at another supermarket chain, Hannaford's, for 99 cents as well.

I think it's silly to buy bags that are made in and shipped from China and call it "green." That's like buying a brand new hybrid car with a battery with a finite lifecycle and no recycleability, when you have a perfectly functonal car in the driveway, and calling that "green." The only "green" is the money given to retailers.

I think the key aspect here is that you can use each of these bags hundreds of times. Mine have held up very impressively. If I use 10 bags a week while shopping or hauling stuff, then over each year my 17 or so bags prevent more than 500 plastic bags from being manufactured. For me, that trumps the fact that they are made in China. Unfortunately, the usual plastic supermarket bags don't hold up well after a few uses carrying any significant load.

You can buy bags that are made in the USA from recycled cotton, etc, but they are just too expensive still...when they first came out, such bags cost like $12 each and seemed more like 'designer' totes, but I do notice the prices on US made re-usable shopping bags are now steadily dropping as the retailers and manufacturers get a bit more 'real' and I am confident that they will eventually be priced reasonably and made here from all recycled stuff. Once they hit somewhere around $5 each I'll be buying those instead.
Meanwhile, I feel I'm still helping to prevent excessive plastic production. All of mine are two years old so far, have been used probably 100 times each over the past two years, and they are still going strong. Personally, I like that!

[smurfalicious]

??? Dogs don't poop in Boulder?

They do, but those warrant a different kind of biodegradable bag that's on a small roll and has a handy clip on dispenser.

[msincredible]

I find the baggers at Safeway at the worst...on more than one occasion (when I forgot my own bags) I have ended up with more bags than items purchased.

A former boyfriend (from the UK) would always put his bananas inside a produce bag...I never understood why.

[badgercat]

I think it's silly to buy bags that are made in and shipped from China and call it "green." That's like buying a brand new hybrid car with a battery with a finite lifecycle and no recycleability, when you have a perfectly functonal car in the driveway, and calling that "green." The only "green" is the money given to retailers.
However, I do have a stash of bags that I have been given at various events and seminars that I will re-use for shopping. I also have a large stash of plastic grocery bags (my DH is horrible about bringing them to the store whenever he goes) in the broom closet. Those also get used and re-used.

So if someone doesn't have a handy stash of sturdy bags for reuse, as you are lucky to have.... I used to reuse paper grocery bags, but they would inevitably wear out. Similar to BleeckerSt_Girl, I've gotten dozens of uses out of each of the grocery totes that I've purchased (2) or been given as a gift (2), which have been invaluable when going to/from stores on the bus, and they also fit nicely in the rear baskets on my bike. Sure, I probably could have taken the effort to shop around and find bags at a thrift store instead, but the ones I bought were $0.99 and purchased when I was already at the store. I'm of the opinion that a small step in the right direction is better than not considering it at all.

[ny biker]

I have 4 cotton canvas bags that I got from the store that I shop at most often. They're nice and big, and two of them are insulated for dairy and frozen stuff. Like OakLeaf, I put them by the door as soon as I unpack them so I remember to take them back out to the car.

I just got a reusable bag from REI the other day when I used my dividend.

I also have a Chico bag that I love because it scrunches into a little pouch and fits in your purse, so it's always there if you need it.

http://www.chicobag.com/

[GLC1968]

I think it's silly to buy bags that are made in and shipped from China and call it "green." That's like buying a brand new hybrid car with a battery with a finite lifecycle and no recycleability, when you have a perfectly functonal car in the driveway, and calling that "green." The only "green" is the money given to retailers.

Indeed. It's about as 'green' as buying a brand new bike and saying that you are saving the environement by riding to work every once in awhile. That's not the point.

Buying cloth bags is always a better choice than using the plastic ones. Honestly, mine have been used literally hundreds of times since I bought them a little over a year ago. They also still look brand new, so I see no reason why they won't get to thousands of uses. Are they made in China? Yes. Are they made by a company that follows fair trade practices? Yes. Did I reasearch all this prior to buying them? No, I didn't and perhaps I should have. I picked these bags specifically because of the size. Could I carry a big honkin' purse to allow me to put huge tote bags in it so that I was never without a bag? Well sure, but that seems stupid to me, too. And honestly, it's great that you are reusing free totes from conferences and stuff...but where do you think those were made? USA? Not likely.

My point is that every effort we make is worthwhile. Are we perfect? No. Are we improving, yes...and that's the point. There is no reason to get sactimonious about where reusable shopping bags are coming from when most of us live in a homes powered by grid electricity, use public sewer systems, eat food that wasn't grown in our own backyard by sustainable methods and drive cars powered by foriegn oil. We can't change the world in a day, but we can make better choices about how we live our lives. Preaching to others who are at least making the effort is not helping anyone.

[arielmoon]

I ONLY use re-usable bags for shopping. I would rather carry an item out with nothing than take plastic. I keep my bags in the side of my car door so they are not forgotten.

I also keep one of these in my purse for trips to the mall where a grocery bag is not as functional.

[Serendipity]

A former boyfriend (from the UK) would always put his bananas inside a produce bag...I never understood why.

I often see people doing that - never been able to figure out why, either!

[PamNY]

I also have a Chico bag that I love because it scrunches into a little pouch and fits in your purse, so it's always there if you need it.

That bag looks great -- exactly what I need.

Pam

[Miranda]

Just getting back to my pc here to check on my thread of yesterday...

WOW! What great response.

I really like the self-checker lane myself too. Something else I really liked about using my bag was the size... compared to a cart or a store hard plastic tote basket. The cart is a lot to push through store ailse when it's crowded (if you are not planning to fill the cart all the way up especially). The hard platic basket is just uncomfortable to grip by hand with weight, or carry in the crook of your arm (heavy to start with too).

The shopping bag works out perfectly in comparison.