It’s not true, everybody isn’t doing it. I walk up and down the checkout lanes at Wal-Mart for over an hour to see if anyone would use a reusable bag instead of the plastic ones. Not a single person did. Even though it seems that everyone is talking about how “going green,” is the cool new thing to do, it’s still not as popular as it should be. I was surprised to see how many people still use plastic bags. Even to carry one little item out of the store, like a toothbrush, customers used a bag! I watched someone use a different bag for every single item she bought, which ended up being 26 bags.
Wal-Mart’s reusable bags only cost a $1. Not only are the much larger than a plastic bag, they are much more sturdy. I recently tested the Wal-Mart reusable bags by placing multiple items in the bag until in weight 30 pounds. I hung the bag up with the weight for 2 days. It’s still there and holding strong. A plastic bag wouldn’t have been so durable. We’ve all experienced a plastic bag failing us as and it’s usually a messy ordeal. Maybe that is why the woman in Wal-Mart used individual bags. A few reusable bags would have solved her problem.
You can’t use the excuse that you’ll always forget the reusable bag. I mean seriously, you don’t forget your wallet when you go to the store. Haha, okay so many once or twice but the majority of the time you don’t.
Place the reusable bags in your trunk and return them as soon as the groceries are unloaded. This way the bag is always handy, even when you’re going home after work and realize you need to make a quick stop at the store. If for some reason you don’t have your reusable bag, punish yourself. I’m sure that if you have to carry you groceries without any bags at all, you’ll remember your reusable bag next time.
Maybe you use your plastic bags in trash cans or other ways. Okay, well that’s fine because you are reusing the bag which is great. However that woman didn’t need 26 trash bags all at once. Until recently my parents wadded up every single plastic bag and placed them in a drawer. The drawer was packed and could barely open and shut. Whenever they needed a new bathroom trash bag they’d just get one out of the drawer, however the bags were multiplying more than they were being used. After a while they had no more space for bags and started a new drawer. I finally convinced them that they didn’t need that many bags unless they were planning on creating a plastic bag parachute. Now they use their reusable bag for most of their groceries and occasionally use a plastic bag when they start to run low in the drawer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. The estimated cost spent on bags is $4 billion. If everyone bought a reusable bag (keep in mind it’s only a $1) and stopped using plastic bags, imagine how much money we could save! I think in our economic situation saving money is a prime concern to everyone. So next time you’re at the store, pick up your reusable bag usually found in the checkout isle. It’s time to get everyone involved in “going green.”
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