My Part for the Environment

Back in April, around the time of Earth Day,  I saw a statistic which hit home for me- it said:

“Did you know that we use an average of 500 plastic bags every year? Most bags taken from the grocery store are created for exactly one use, and then they’re tossed in the trash to fill up land dumps. All that work for one use. Think of all the machines, labor, and materials involved just to give us the opportunity to throw a couple items in a bag and carry them in from the garage. Is it really necessary?” (from www.delight.com)

I think plastic bags breed under my sink.  I probably have no less than 50 under there- I try to resue them as much as possible, but every time I go to the grocery store, or Target, etc., I’d end up with more.  I feel guilty throwing them away, so instead of doing that, we have our own plastic bag landfill under our kitchen and bathroom sinks!

I have to agree with the above quote, and I think there will be a movement soon to really try to eliminate plastic bags every time from stores.  I have heard several people in lines at stores say in Europe, you have to buy plastic bags, so EVERYONE brings their own bags to the stores / marketplaces, and a lot of places don’t even offer bags.  Swedish based retailer, IKEA, started charging its US customers this year for plastic bags. 

So I decided NO MORE!  Only trouble is, I usually forget to bring my bags, and I HATE most of the canvas bags you can buy at stores.  I realized I would have to just start making a conscieous effort to remember my bags, so it would become second nature.

However, I saw these adorable, pretty, cute, and practical set of five reusable bags from Envirosax:

Due to a huge demand, I only now just received them, but they are great!  Everything they claim to do, so far, has been true.  They roll up so thin, they take up no space at all.  Tonight I took one to Target, and fit a pretty good size order of household items in one, whereas it probably would have taken 2 to 3 of the Target bags to hold my stuff.  They snap up, so they don’t become unrolled, and they are PRETTY- no frumpy canvas here!

It was kind of a splurge, but I am very happy with them, and I know it will help a bigger cause, plus I can use them for library books, swimming / beach bag, or when I just need a bigger bag than my purse, and finally rid us of our out-of-control plastic bag breeding factory.  (in case you are wondering, I plan to take the plastic ones to the next items- hard-to-recycle-day, at our local recycling plant- they will accept them on these special days.)

It looks like Delight.com, where I purchased mine, is sold out, but you can pre-order them for their next shipment.   

So the next time you see a girl at the grocery store, saying no to paper or plastic, and she whips out these lovely bags, you’ll know it is me.  🙂