That’s my new mantra heading into the spring.
Recent stories describe the insane quantities of plastic bags consumers use and how they are almost impossible to get rid of (according to the Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags can take 1,000 years to decompose).
So even if you reuse the mountains of bags as trash can liners or to dispose of cat waste as we do, they still end up in a hole where they’ll live well after I’m gone.
This week I jumped on the canvas bag bandwagon.
The only stores in Statesville where I’ve seen the canvas bags are Wal-Mart on Highway 21 and Bi-Lo on East Broad Street. They hang by the registers and are fairly reasonable (Wal-Mart’s are $1 each).
The bags have a square base and easily hold what three plastic bags would hold. A full-cart shopping trip last weekend resulted in five canvas bags – the same trip would have resulted in at least 10 plastic bags.
The bags also have a much longer handle, making it easier to throw a few on your shoulders with your purse. That is especially nice when you’re carrying groceries alone and don’t want to make multiple trips or cut off circulation to your fingers.
Even though stores sell them, it is obvious that the retail world is not ready for canvas bags.
The first bags I purchased were scanned by the cashier and tucked neatly in a plastic bag without hesitation. When I asked to use the bags, she looked puzzled.
I now go through self-checkouts. It’s not to avoid the cashiers, but so the cashiers can avoid me. Having worked at a Wal-Mart to pay my way through college, I remember an items-per-minute statistic kept for each cashier. It takes longer to prepare each bag, meaning less items scanned. I don’t want my canvas bags to skew a cashier’s stats.
At some stores I refuse a bag altogether. One cashier yelled down the row of registers to the door greeter, “HEY! This girl doesn’t want a bag. She paid for this stuff!” A bookstore in Charlotte asked repeatedly if I wanted a bag for two small books, and a drugstore cashier was stumped when I refused a bag for a greeting card and photos.
But despite the quizzical looks, just saying no is easier than it first seemed. Keep canvas bags in your trunk, and politely refuse bags when you don’t need them.
If not for an environmental perspective, try them out of your hatred of picking up groceries after your plastic bag rips open.
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3 comments:
Good for you Jessica, I also use canvass or other material bags for shopping. I've got quite a collection now (8 or 9); some my mom sent me from OH, NY, and Canada!
It's more important than people realize, and truly, I find it more convenient most of the time. I love fitting SO MUCH MORE in my sturdy bags.
The ones at Bi-Lo are .99 now, and they also give a bag credit of .05 per bag you bring of your own each time you shop.
We're behind other countries on this one, and can take the initiative as consumers NOW before anyone gets around to passing laws about and against plastic bags as has been done in other parts of the world.
(and it's a fun conversation starter when someone recognizes a bag from another state)
Whole Foods also has affordable bags (I think mine was 1.99)
Cashiers are getting the hang of it, in some stores. I tend to use the self checkout too, to save them hassles (their counters aren't often byobag friendly). I did have a young man at my local Ingles tell me "You Rock!" when I handed him my reusable bags :)
The best part is waiting for the sides of the road to be cleaner, but in the meantime knowing those bags are NOT MINE. Oh, and teaching my kids that this is just what is done...knowing that goes forward.
So, "kill a tree, or strangle a bird?" Neither for my family, thanks.
I wondered what those big pocketbook looking bags were I saw at Bi-Lo.
King
I know a way you can avoid the plastic bag ripping, just ask the cashier to double or triple bag the items. Once you get home throw the other two bags in your neighbor's yard, so they won't take up space at the land fill.
Queen
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