Friday, February 08, 2008

February Just One Thing

February's Just One Thing is to use a reusable bag! By bringing your own bag, you can be part of reducing the use of 12 million barrels of oil that go into manufacturing plastic bags and the 10 billion paper bags that are used each year. Bringing your own bag also helps cut down on landfill waste, litter, and wildlife injuries. Just by bringing your own bag, you can help reduce climate change and make the world a better place for the future. Thank you!

Some ideas...
Many grocery and department stores are offering inexpensive reusable bags to make this simple for you. (I've purchased them at both Whole Foods and Target but have seen them at normal grocery stores and understand WalMart is offering them too.)

For more ideas, check out:
Haute Reusable Bags
Knit a Bag!
Feeling ambitious? Make a bag from old bags!

Or go ultra simple. I love the idea of using old plastic bags and turning them inside out, labeling them "Reusable Bag", like this blogger!

8 comments:

BagMonsterBuster said...

When enough single-use bags get together they take on a life of their own as Bag Monsters. No seriously, look them up on YouTube. They hate bag bans and reusable bags... So they're trying to ban humans. These monsters are dopey goobers who still think plastic bags are great... So go ahead and see what kind of shenanigans they're getting into today. www.BagMonster.com
Join the movement to adopt a healthy reusable ChicoBag habit: Become a Bag Monster Buster. www.BagMonsterBusters.com. Single-use bags are the poster child of wastefulness and they are creating Bag Monsters! You might have one under your kitchen sink... you know... the bag of bags you never get around to recycling? Yeah. Those ones. They're coming to life and exacting revenge over what they deem “discriminatory bag bans.” Stay strong, and always roll with a reusable ChicoBag!

Anonymous said...

check out the groovy reusables at www.minusbags.com. They hold twice as much as plastic bags and they're made of washable cotton and made in the US!

denise said...

We use our bags for everything - and we have also found them available pretty much everywhere! We have 2 "sets" so we don't ever forget and go out without them.

I love when I visit shops and they say, you don't need a bag, right? :)

Tom Reilly said...

I was never here before so hi. I always thought that they just made more plastic bags from the bags you returned at the store. Do you know if this is not true?

Tom Reilly said...

Never posted here before so hi. I always thought that the plastic bags you returned to the store were used to make new bags. Do you know if it's true?

Mia said...

Hi Treebark, Even if every store really recycled their bags (which I'm sure they don't), that recycling process takes more energy and resources. Also, I think the percentage of people who actually return their bags is very small. Bringing your own bag is the best option.

BagMonsterBuster said...

treebark - When plastic is recycled, the end product is of a lower quality because there is always contamination from non-plastic materials that are in the recycle batches (crumbs, paper, dirt, etc). Any time a plastic (of any kind) is recycled, the end product is of an inferior quality. Solution: Bring Your Own Bag, Bottle, Plate, Silverware, and always bring a rag (great as a napkin and softer than paper tissues for your nose!) Woohoo! It's a great way to meet people and to expose people to options they didn't realize we have. Recycling is a last resort, be proactive and bring your own!

BagMonsterBuster said...

EPA says that only 1% of plastic bags get recycled, and only 20% of paper bags get recycled. For more amazing facts go to
http://web.archive.org/web/20060426235724/http://www.epa.gov/region1/communities/shopbags.html