Bags
Published by Kyso Kisaen November 10th, 2007 in AdviceI just returned from a trip to the grocery store, where the purchase of a half a chicken breast, a tube of toothpaste, a half pint of cream, some pantyhose, a package of tortillas, and a bag of pre-shredded cheese resulted in the acquisition of four plastic grocery bags, plus the plastic bag around the chicken that the butcher provided.
It’s probably time to bring my own damn bags. Any recommendations? I’d also be interested in getting sacks suitable for bulk sugar or vegetables.
I’ve always found that a backpack works just fine for me.
I’d recommend taking the advice of the Campaign Against Climate Change; forget about carrier bags, incandescent lightbulbs and standby switches: take to the streets and demand your government halts air travel expansion and ends biofuel subsidies.
I agree with Thene’s admonition to take to the streets, but use reusable bags too. If you want grocery-type bags without the plastic, I recommend ChicoBags. I live in Chico so I’m a bit biased, but they’re good stuff.
Reusable bags has a lot of bags, cotton, hemp, recycled PET, string, various sizes, various prices. Or if this is a call for craftiness, you could sew or knit your own. My local co-op grocery store also sells lots of different bags, and craft stores like (ick) Hobby Lobby usually have plain totes.
I’m in the beginning stage of trying to design a reusable pizza carrier that would free my recycling bin from all those stupid greasy pizza boxes. Of course actually getting the 19-year-olds who make my pie to use it is a whole other dilemma.
Whatever you get, make sure you hang those suckers on the doorknob or put them straight back in the car/bike/whatever as soon as the groceries are put away. Otherwise you’ll end up with the plastic bags half the time as your eco-friendly reusable ones languish on the kitchen counter.
Taking to the streets, while more effective, will do little to clear my closet and garbage cans of all these damn bags. I seem to remember a time when baggers were trained to use the minimum number of bags possible, but now they only even pretend to try when you ask for paper, which doing so is clearly placing a terrible burden on them.
Good advice, skeptic. I was planing on storing them in the car.
Because I tend to do all major shopping on weekends, I keep a backpack full of cloth bags by my door. Then I can just grab everything on my way out.
A lot of big stores (like Longs Drugs) have started selling their own reusable bags and these work pretty well for me. I’ve also picked up a few bags that were being given away as swag.
I’ve found that the trick is to carry more bags than you really think you’ll need because (and I recognize this is my own pet peeve) good lord are baggers inefficient. And once there are three items in each bag, they resort to plastic.
Even when you have TWENTY reusable bags, you are STILL going to end up getting plastic bags sometimes (especially when the baggers automatically wrap your meat, chemicals or frozen).
For this reason I BAG my own at the store, too, which for some reason they hate (usually).
All my reusable bags are SXSW swag. String bags are better, but there are GREAT string bags and also LAME ones, and they look exactly alilke. THe GREAT ones are thicker, materially.
I havbe finally hit on the solution to put (store) the recyclable plastic bags IN the reusable bags, so that I remember to recycle them. I have heard rumors that WHole Foods really does recycle the plastic bags but HEB just PRETENDS to, and puts them in the garbage dumpster.
Don’t know if it’s true or not. SOmething to think about.
I just ordered some Ikea totes on Ebay from a seller for about a buck a piece of less. They are the ones they give out to walk around in the store with. They are big and roomy with tote-bag style handles. We’ll also use them on the job to carry around tools and whatever as we’re always re-using all types of bags/containers for such.
In the eighties when I worked at a grocery store, the senior bus would stop by every Wednesday morning and the little old ladies would attack the aisles. They ALWAYS each and every one of them, brought their own bags. From string bags, to re-used plastic bags to carefully folded paper bags, canvas totes, whatever. We used to go nuts having to fit stuff in their crazy bags and they never seemed to run out of them — they’d just unfold another and thrust it into our face when one was satisfactorily full.
I think now of their prudence, which was actually borne out of their frustration with the plastic bags’ reputation of breaking under load. They also didn’t want to be bothered with taking out too much trash and so minimized creation of such. What we learn from the old folks!
As for the endless supply of plastic bags from stores? Donate them to your local thrift store, they’d be happy to have them. At least they get one more life before hitting the waste stream.
Oh and by the way — thrift stores are a great place to look for totes or bags to use. You can check out their bag collection after you drop off all those plastic bags
Why buy new when you can use something used?
Even when bringing/using my own bags. I’ll wrap my meats and chemicals in plastic bags. I may be off, but it seems a sanitation issue. I usually bring an old messenger bag I no longer use and it carries almost all of what I purchase; but I tend to purchase just for 1-3 days at a time. I particularly want those other things bagged to protect the rest of my food.
I really like the ones I’ve picked up at Whole Foods. I love the flat bottom. And as for strength, I’ve packed those suckers full of paperbacks and hardcovers, and they have survived. (Well, one of them developed a small rip at the bottom, but after two years of hard use, I think that’s okay.
I use the Kiva “key chain tote” bag. It is pricey (I think $12ish), but I like it because it folds up into its own little zippered traveling pouch (which is part of the tote, not a separate piece). When folded, it is small enough to fit in my purse - that way I always have it with me. I live in Germany and have to pay 15 cents at the register for each plastic bag used to bag the groceries, and this is a big incentive never to forget my bag!
The ones Long’s Drugs sells for 99 cents are really great. I believe they’re made from recycled plastic, but they’re incredibly tough (feels more like canvas), water-resistant, and big. Slightly larger than a brown paper grocery bag (hey, remember those?) with handles and a flat bottom, I can easily fit a week’s worth of groceries in one.
I find the ones that my store itself sells to be more than sufficient, except for the fact that the handles rub my hands raw if I overload them, as they’re the same kind of fibre you find on backpack straps.
I still get plastic bags, though, particularly from the convenience store, because I use them for disposing of cat shit.
I’d say stay away from those at Longs Drugs. They’re very strong, but the one I bought has a strap that is too small to put over my shoulder. I walk everywhere so I have to use bags with a shoulder strap– it’s not a matter of hefting things to the car and then to the door, it’s a few miles. I also need to keep weight off my hands and wrists as much as possible, so the Longs bags are wasted on me. Maybe your Longs has totes with longer straps. Try them on first.
Target, Winco, and many public libraries make cheap, strong totebags. I think the red Target ones with the birds in the tree design are very attractive.
Seriously, a backpack is your best bet since it keeps the weight on your back and off your hands, with a couple of totes for small or breakable things you want close or not bumping up against other things. You can repurpose old boxes for dividers inside the backpack cavity. The only problem with backpacks is that I tend to get followed, as I’m young and scruffy-looking. Backpacks are often banned in stores due to theft. So if you wear a backpack, don’t steal anything.
Fending off the baggers– tell the cashier and bagger as soon as you get there that you have your own bags. Keep saying it until they get off their autopilot.
It’s funny that everyone concentrates on not using plastic grocery bags. Why is it so terrible to use plastic grocery bags, but it’s OK to go to the store and buy plastic garbage bags (which they will put in another plastic bag for you to carry home)? I go ahead and let them bag my stuff in plastic. I have small trash cans that the grocery store bags fit in just perfect. I never buy garbage bags.