Eco-mmunity to End Fossil Fuel
BYO Bag
Let's talk about buying stuff. When you're out for the weekly grocery run, do you use paper or plastic? Or do you take your own bags along? This is one of my favorite little things about places like Trader Joe's - when you bring your own bags, you get to enter a weekly drawing for a gift card to the store.
I was happy to hear that the California State Assembly is considering a bill this week to charge retailers a 15 to 25 cent 'fee' for the distribution of a plastic bag. As this cost would be passed onto the consumer, it's expected to act as a voluntary, if heavy handed, way to phase out plastic bags.
What do you think about the plastic bag fee? Did you know that some places like Ikea already charge for plastic bags? Yep, throwaway bags at Ikea are 5-10 cents each...but the great thing is that Ikea sells reusable, super heavy duty fabric bags right at the checkout stand for $1.
How I closed the loop: my huge Ikea bag comes with me to Trader Joe's every Sunday night and carries home 30 pounds of groceries - AND I get to enter the TJ's gift card drawing. All for $1, and no extra waste.
Pick up a few reusable bags and keep them in your trunk so you'll always be prepared!
From resuablebags.com:
ENERGY TO PRODUCE BAG ORIGINALLY
Safeway Plastic Bags: 594 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 2511 BTUs
ENERGY TO RECYCLE PACKAGE ONCE (BTUs)
Safeway Plastic Bags: 17 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 1444 BTUs
[Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry]
2 Comments
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Comment by ningcreator on April 16, 2008 at 8:54am -
You know, we usually do paper... at some point we'll get organized enough to leave bags by the trunk or handy if we're walking.
I'd like to follow-up on this discussion with figuring out how to get some of us active in some of the legislation being supported by Californians Against Waste.
Apparently the Plastic Bag Reduction legislation AB 2058 just passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and is going to the Appropriations Committee next. When I have time, I'd like to read about what it's proposing in more detail...
Another useful article is, What do all those recycling numbers mean... " which I always forget. Good to have the Internet for references... !
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Comment by Luz on October 1, 2008 at 1:06pm -
Hi J! Great suggestions about the reusable bags. I did noticed that on my last Ikea trip. This sort of reminds me of my growing up days in Mexico. There was a farmer's market every Thursday and my mom used to drag us along (no childcare)... and everybody there has their own "market bag" which is made of some sort of fiber and is so durable! We used to walk there (about 10-20 min walk from my home) and my mom would do all the carrying, pretty heavy, but the bag never broke, end everything fits.
Also, couple years ago I used to work at Sigona's Market, and people that had their own bags used to get a small discount (If I remember correctly .25c). I remembered I saw couple of people with some bags that had wheels in them and they were made so it fit on the trunk....I'm still looking for those.
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