We’ve all been there; you walk to the grocery store, wallet in hand, headphones on while you’re preoccupied reading your emails or checking your Facebook feed. You’re not really looking forward to grocery shopping but the severe lack of food in your house has forced you to take drastic measures and finally hull yourself over to the store. You finally get there and spend a solid half hour loading up your cart with all the food your heart desires. When you get to the checkout, the cashier scans the first items and follows up with “will you be needing bags today?”…. damn it, you forgot your reusable bags. You’re left to lug home 15lbs of canned goods, milk bags and a bag of potatoes in the flimsy, pathetic, piece of plastic they call grocery bags. Your bag rips and your eggs fall out and get mulled by the potatoes all over the concrete pavement. By then, you’re frustrated, hangry (hungry + angry), and needless to say, completely embarrassed as people obliviously walk by you in their true downtown city manner while you willow in your sad sad state of being. Who knew plastic bags would be the bane of your existence…
Just kidding, this only happens in infomercials.
But seriously, plastic bags suck. And today I am going to tell you all about the dependable, sturdy, and sustainable alternative… Reusable bags!! I have to admit, there are times when I am lazy and don’t want to walk home to grab a reusable bag, not thinking it will make much of a difference. But this always gets me thinking; how much of a difference does it actually make?
Let me tell you.
Plastic Bags are non-biodegradable
That’s right, once you toss out that bag it is in the ground; it will surely outlive you. In fact, it will outlive you 10 times over.
The average plastic bag is used for five minutes to carry your purchases home, yet these single use plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to break down.
Second fact of the day: the first plastic bag was used in 1957… to put that into perspective, not one plastic bag has ever fully disintegrated. Ever. There is such thing as a biodegradable bag though; seems pretty ideal. The only issue is that manufacturers aren’t required to list the ingredients for the bag. In other words, they very well could be not biodegradable at all.
The alternative paper bag also holds an issue… I feel like the bearer of bad news today but I it’s important to let everyone know the harms of our ways. As easily as paper bags are to recycle, they actually require much more energy than plastic bags to produce initially. Neither situation is ideal to be honest; one extracts a fair amount of oil but carries an impossibly long lifecycle thereafter, while the other option requires much more oil initially to produce but can be recycled later. Its essentially a lose-lose situation.
Plastic Bags can kill
Truth be told, plastic bags can not only harm kids but animals and ecosystems too. Plastic bags contribute to the death of over 100,000 marine animals a year. The most at risk victim being sea turtles…come on.
It’s not just the marine life at risk, but all land plants and animals as well. Once plastic becomes part of the soil bed, it releases toxic chemicals such as xylene, ethylene oxide and benzene. These are toxic chemicals that are sources of various diseases for plants and animals as well as disorders in humans. Not to mention the amount of land animals that choke on these harmful toxic waste carrying sacks of no good.
Where to go from here?
It’s a pretty simple answer that most of us are acutally often practicing as we speak; convert to reusable bags! They’re wonderful in terms of sturdiness and will last a very long time. In fact, the average lifespan of one good reusable bag is equivalent to 700 disposable plastic bags. You would be paying an equivalent $35 over the course of time for the plastic bags (if they cost 5 cents) as opposed to one reusable bag.
There is concern however over contamination issues with continual use of these reusable bags…understandable. The great thing is that you can wash a majority of them. Simply washing the bag in hot water along with kitchen towels or similar loads of laundry will make these bags as clean as new.
Bonus; some retailers are even discounting customers on their purchases for bringing reusable bags. It may not be a lot (typically only 10 cents a bag) but it sure is better than paying that 10 cents for something that you will inevitably toss out.
Plastic bags may convenience you for an hour’s worth of shopping, but for every plastic bag you buy, you are inconveniencing the trees, the grass, the ocean, the animals, the air, yours and everyone’s health, and much much more.
Think twice, say no to plastic.
Reference:
http://www.greenlivingbees.com/plastic-bags-pollution-effects-and-solutions/#sthash.ZzXd0ZUl.dpbs http://sustainableliving.uconn.edu/articles/reusablebags.php http://www.greenlivingbees.com/plastic-bags-pollution-effects-and-solutions/#sthash.ZzXd0ZUl.dpuf http://www.greenerfootprints.com/plastic-bag-facts/#sthash.OqseodOp.dpuf http://www.reusethisbag.com/25-reasons-to-go-reusable.php http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/biodegradable-bags-a-load-of-rubbish/article4316356/
Living Sustainably 