“If you don’t mind, I’ll just take that by itself, without a bag.”
I don’t want to take a plastic bag home with me…another plastic bag to shove in the front hall closet, so I tell mostly teenage cashiers that if they don’t mind, I’d prefer not to take one of their bags home with me. I know that it’s ridiculous to put it this way, and eventually I’ll get better at telling them, “I don’t want a plastic bag, thank you.” I’ll state it, just like that, instead of saying it in an apologetic tone.
Does this sound familiar to you at all?
I’m working on it…
Someday I won’t feel like I’m imposing on a store just because I
want to break the grand shopping tradition of toting arm loads of
plastic bags home. I really do want to get more assertive when it
comes to dealing with retailers. After all, it’s their job to please
their customers, not the other way around.
According to Greenloop,
“Each year over 1 million birds and sea mammals die from plastic
ingestion or entanglement. Fifteen million trees are cut down every
year to make paper bags in this country. Less than 1% of plastic
shopping bags get recycled. 12 Million barrels of oil are used
annually to produce plastic bags in the US.”
Over the last couple of years, it’s been getting easier and easier
to be a consumer who shops without the use of plastic bags. In our
front hall closet we have a big pile of cotton and canvas shopping
bags, and on a good day, I remember to bring them with me. (The trick
seems to be leaving some cloth bags or a basket in the trunk of the
car.) I even bought reusable mesh shopping bags, which I love because
it means I don’t even have to use those thin, clear plastic bags when I
buy produce.
February’s Challenge
This month, BlogHers ACT Canada’s mission is to eliminate the use of
plastic shopping bags. We don’t just want to cut back on using them,
we want to get rid of them completely. If China can do it, so can you! Getting rid of the bags you have lying around in your home is the first step.
We’ve got prizes!
We realize that this is an uphill battle. Maybe your family has a
mountain of plastic bags stashed somewhere at home. If this is the
case, how creative can you get with them? Can you find an alternative
use for those evil plastic bags? Gather all of the plastic bags from
around your home and do something with them. Make a tote bag. Make a hat.
Anything. Then, take a photo of your creation and blog about it. Or,
take a photo that shows how you deal with those plastic shopping bags
in another way, like recycling them. Don’t forget to comment back here
by February 15th, when a random draw of participants will determine the
five winners of these EcoMomsAct prizes: three winners will receive a Greenloop reusable shopping bag, one winner a Skeeda reusable bag, and another winner will receive a set of reusable mesh produce BYO Bags. Prizes are all courtesy of the lovely ladies at Green Mom Finds. Good luck!