using your own grocery bags

[amalia]

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
I'm reaching out to you Prius owners, organic produce shoppers, DemocracyNow!/Common Dreams supporters. But, do you bring in your own bags when grocery shopping?? Let's get a discussion going on this!

[Braggi]

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
...

Well, I drive a 1985 Honda or else a big diesel pickup. A Prius would self destruct on my driveway.

Yes, I always have cloth bags in my car. I get them free or nearly free from second hand stores or various give-aways. Sometimes I have five or six of them with me when I do a big grocery store run. It's amazing how difficult it is to train the checkers and bag persons in the grocery stores. A couple of times I even had a Safeway employee fill up one of his plastic bags and then place the whole thing in my canvas bag! Amazing.

Fortunately, more and more of the checkers are getting used to the canvas bags.

-Jeff who's trying to be green.

[Lenny]

Like Jeff, I chuckle going to the stores, as there may be a wallet or something in the bag going in. I know I'll get busted sometime when I declare that I brought the item INTO the store but full explanations will be tricky. I know Circuit City thinks I'm boosting. Kind of fun. Oh yeah, and the 'men carrying purse' thingy crosses my indifferent head on occasion, but I get over that quickly in my advancing age.

[AnnaLisaW]

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
I'm reaching out to you Prius owners, organic produce shoppers, DemocracyNow!/Common Dreams supporters. But, do you bring in your own bags when grocery shopping?? Let's get a discussion going on this!

What's to discuss? Responsible people bring containers to carry their purchases home in unless they need the plastic/paper bag for some reason. (Since I cannot have a compost bin where I live, I use them for trash can liners.) I prefer cloth bags; they can be thown in the washing machine when they get grungy. Since I often take the bus, I also keep a nylon bag that folds down to the size of a change purse and easily fits in my pocket for those last minute items that I pick-up on the way home.
This is a common enough practice that checkout clerks are no longer surprised when I say "no bag."
Really now, isn't it foolish to carry something home from the store that you are going to throw out? Furthermore, the cloth or nylon bags hold more, are easier on the hands and rarely tear. If they do, it is generally a small hole that nothing falls out of.
As for the Prius owners, I cannot comprehend why people with cars need to bring all those excess bags home. Is that what they bought the car for? To carry trash?

-AnnaLisa

[MsTerry]

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??!

It actually pays to bring your own bag.
Even FoodMax will pay you 5c for bringing your own.

Yes, I always have cloth bags in my car.

LOL I always have extra bags in my car too, it is just that I don't always have them in my hands when it is time to check out.

[nurturetruth]

This will sound funny ~

I always go shopping with my own 2 bags made from hemp and flax .

The thing is, after I get my 5c worth , I then kindly ask the cashier for a large brown paper recyclable bag to take home with me. Not to fill up my groceries , but for me to use as my garbage bag and recycle bag at home!

so i guess i get the best of both worlds

[MsTerry]

it does sound funny!
what does that tree you are hugging think about that ?

This will sound funny ~

I always go shopping with my own 2 bags made from hemp and flax .

The thing is, after I get my 5c worth , I then kindly ask the cashier for a large brown paper recyclable bag to take home with me. Not to fill up my groceries , but for me to use as my garbage bag .

so i guess i get the best of both worlds

[PeriodThree]

Hi AnnaLisa,

I am a bit bothered by the moralistic tone you have there. 'Responsible people....'

There is the clear condemnation (or maybe I am reading too much into it?) of people who behave in a way which is different from the way you behave.

I may be making too much of this, but I interpret your words as being a sort of holier than thou moralistic condemnation of other people.

I mostly bring bags when I go shopping, and yet, your tone still annoys me.

If we look at real numbers, I suspect that bringing, or not bringing, our own grocery bags has a tiny effect on our ecological footprint. Obviously every little bit helps, but bringing, or not bringing, your own bags is not what makes you a responsible person.

Cheers,
Rich

What's to discuss? Responsible people bring containers to carry their purchases home in unless they need the plastic/paper bag for some reason. (Since I cannot have a compost bin where I live, I use them for trash can liners.) I prefer cloth bags; they can be thown in the washing machine when they get grungy. Since I often take the bus, I also keep a nylon bag that folds down to the size of a change purse and easily fits in my pocket for those last minute items that I pick-up on the way home.
This is a common enough practice that checkout clerks are no longer surprised when I say "no bag."
Really now, isn't it foolish to carry something home from the store that you are going to throw out? Furthermore, the cloth or nylon bags hold more, are easier on the hands and rarely tear. If they do, it is generally a small hole that nothing falls out of.
As for the Prius owners, I cannot comprehend why people with cars need to bring all those excess bags home. Is that what they bought the car for? To carry trash?

-AnnaLisa

[nurturetruth]

What do you suggest I use for trash and recycling , MsTerry?! LMAO !!

The tree appreciates what I am doing because the bags are recycled .
And the earth is glad I stopped using plastic for my trash .

And speaking of plastic ~

I know of those who will wash, and line dry their plastic produce bags and bring them back to the store with them when shopping for produce again.

How many in our community do this?

it does sound funny!
what does that tree you are hugging think about that ?

[Lenny]

I recall those woven bags that would STRETCH, probably made of cotton, my grandmother and all the little old ladies used. Very small when empty, but highly expandable when filled. And they would put them in their personal collapsible shopping carts and walked ever where. The current plastic bags holding oranges reminded me of those holders the other day, except these are scratchy and rough, and grandmother's was always soft. Very few paper bags then, very practical. Good memories.

[AnnaLisaW]

Hi AnnaLisa,

I am a bit bothered by the moralistic tone you have there. 'Responsible people....'

There is the clear condemnation (or maybe I am reading too much into it?) of people who behave in a way which is different from the way you behave.

I may be making too much of this, but I interpret your words as being a sort of holier than thou moralistic condemnation of other people.

I mostly bring bags when I go shopping, and yet, your tone still annoys me.

If we look at real numbers, I suspect that bringing, or not bringing, our own grocery bags has a tiny effect on our ecological footprint. Obviously every little bit helps, but bringing, or not bringing, your own bags is not what makes you a responsible person.

Cheers,
Rich

Okay, so you knocked me off my high horse, we all need that occaisionally. It is part of being "responsible."
Blessings, AnnaLisa

[Braggi]

I recall those woven bags that would STRETCH, probably made of cotton, my grandmother and all the little old ladies used. Very small when empty, but highly expandable when filled. ...

These are coming back into style as well. Nice because they can fold up so small.

My mom just keeps a couple of used plastic shopping bags in her purse. Reuse is good too.

-Jeff

[MsTerry]

What do you suggest I use for trash and recycling , MsTerry?! LMAO !!

The tree appreciates what I am doing because the bags are recycled .
And the earth is glad I stopped using plastic for my trash .

First of all your bags are not recycled, because they were never used fo anything.
Second, zero waste and compost, not recycle

And speaking of plastic ~

I know of those who will wash, and line dry their plastic produce bags and bring them back to the store with them when shopping for produce again.

How many in our community do this?

I wash and reuse my freezer bags until they fall apart, haven't taken my bags back in to reuse in the store though.

[Dynamique]

How about the new biodegradable "plastic" trash bags made from starch? They have small ones at Costco for the compost pile. Larger ones would be better for regular trash, but they are not so easily found.

What do you suggest I use for trash and recycling , MsTerry?! LMAO !!

[Moon]

I used to, but now i find i'm using them for garbage, and i wish i could think of a
non-petroleum product garbage container that would work well--not leak, not fall apart on
the way down the stairs, keep the cat out of the garbage, not have to be cleaned each time.

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
I'm reaching out to you Prius owners, organic produce shoppers, DemocracyNow!/Common Dreams supporters. But, do you bring in your own bags when grocery shopping?? Let's get a discussion going on this!

[MsTerry]

I used to, but now i find i'm using them for garbage, and i wish i could think of a
non-petroleum product garbage container that would work well--not leak, not fall apart on
the way down the stairs, keep the cat out of the garbage, not have to be cleaned each time.

Try stainless steel and check out Target

[Braggi]

...

I know of those who will wash, and line dry their plastic produce bags and bring them back to the store with them when shopping for produce again.

How many in our community do this?

I confess. More typically I put lunch sandwiches in them or other picnic goodies. I figure if I use each plastic bag twice over my lifetime I will have used half as many as I otherwise would have.

Some of them I use several times. I toss them when they won't hold water anymore.

-Jeff

[Lenny]

I used to, but now i find i'm using them for garbage, and i wish i could think of a non-petroleum product garbage container that would work well--not leak, not fall apart on the way down the stairs, keep the cat out of the garbage, not have to be cleaned each time.

We use to use a pail.
We would line it with newspapers. One on the bottom, open up another, fold in half, wrap around a leg, and it was the size of the pail, then place inside for walls. Double up if you anticipate wet stuff. Then dump pail into garbage can.
And if you don' take the newspaper, you are better off. But then get a pail with a lid and simply go dump daily.

[Sherry Moyse]

I keep mine in the trunk of my car and use them all the time. Some stores give you 5 cents per bag.

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
I'm reaching out to you Prius owners, organic produce shoppers, DemocracyNow!/Common Dreams supporters. But, do you bring in your own bags when grocery shopping?? Let's get a discussion going on this!

[1eye]

I always plan on bringing bags with me but, shockingly, they are never there at checkout time.
That will change when the plastic bag ban takes effect later this year.
Any container we shoppers bring with us the better.
Paper bags seem less 'bad' because, supposedly, they come from tree farms grown specifically for pulp/paper.
At least that sounds 'sustainable' and it does add carbon dioxide-absorbing biomass to the planet.
When shopping at Trader Joe I use their wine boxes to cart out my buy and then reuse them around the house until they fall apart, and then use them in the yard for mulch.

I try to remember this Gandhi saying as often as I can:
Whatever we do is very insignificant, but it is very important that we do it.

[MAG]

I mean to keep heavy paper bags in the car. I do bring in Trader Joe bags. Strong enough to re-use several times at least for groceries and then other purposes . So are Whole Foods and Oliver's.
I don't agree with the green thing of stores not supplying bags. The store bags are multi-purpose from packing paper to garbage. We don't have to buy one use bags for garbage, etc.
The cloth or plastic bags can hold bacteria. Cleaning with water and soap has its own environmental consequences. I recall an Oprah show where she had a woman checking the counters, other surfaces and the plastic baggies that Oprah diligently washed for bacteria. Oprah was aghast - The bags had bacteria and were not food safe.
Odd that stores (and government regulation) want to eliminate bags for customers while each piece of fruit has a label as do many vegetables.

Does anyone out there use their own grocery bags - cloth, recycled paper??
I'm reaching out to you Prius owners, organic produce shoppers, DemocracyNow!/Common Dreams supporters. But, do you bring in your own bags when grocery shopping?? Let's get a discussion going on this!

[Skye]

carrying cloth bags over the shoulder, no pruis, just two legs......

I mean to keep heavy paper bags in the car. I do bring in Trader Joe bags. Strong enough to re-use several times at least for groceries and then other purposes . So are Whole Foods and Oliver's.
I don't agree with the green thing of stores not supplying bags. The store bags are multi-purpose from packing paper to garbage. We don't have to buy one use bags for garbage, etc.
The cloth or plastic bags can hold bacteria. Cleaning with water and soap has its own environmental consequences. I recall an Oprah show where she had a woman checking the counters, other surfaces and the plastic baggies that Oprah diligently washed for bacteria. Oprah was aghast - The bags had bacteria and were not food safe.
Odd that stores (and government regulation) want to eliminate bags for customers while each piece of fruit has a label as do many vegetables.

[Sherry Moyse]

As a germaphob, I 100% agree with the points you made. But, we who use our cloth bags are but a small portion of the people. Not everyone is earth conscious. It is in that respect that I agree to eliminate plastic and paper bags (mostly plastic). I live in Vallejo. Daily I see plastic bags floating around, stuck in trees, etc. It is for this reason that I want stores to stop using plastic bags.

I do like how you are using your bags. I feel you're still doing a wonderful thing. I also remember the Oprah show that you mentioned and the look on her face when she realized how much bacteria was in her reused gallon bags. It was an "aha" moment for her.