I stood in line at the grocery store the other day behind a lady who was paper bag happy. Â She had purchased 3 boxes of take out fried chicken from the deli and a boxed cake from the bakery. Â Even though each of these were already in a container and didn’t even need a bag (the chicken boxes even had handles!), she insisted on a separate brown paper bag for each item.
This is on top of the other grocery items she purchased, which I did not notice as I had walked up in line just as the discussion about “the right way” to bag the chicken was going on with the bag boy. Â Is there a “right way” to bag take out chicken, by the way?
Just wondering.
In total, there were at least twelve brown paper bags in that shopping cart, each only about half full of items.I must have been unknowingly staring in disbelief at the situation unfold because the checkout girl looked at me and said, “Is everything ok?” Â Â I shook my head and said to her, “Wow, I hope that lady is going to recycle all those bags!”
Fact is, even if those bags do get recycled (they probably won’t be), it is still a disgrace to use that much disposable material just to carry your shopping home from the store. Â Â It takes a lot of energy in a pollution spewing factory to recycle all those bags when use of them can be avoided entirely just by developing the habit of bringing them yourself.
A number of years ago, my New Year’s Resolution was to start bringing my own bags to the store. Â I had been using brown paper bags over and over again for awhile (and then recycling them when they got tattered), but I decided this was still not good enough and I needed to get reusable bags for all my shopping instead. This included not just the grocery store but also Home Depot, Target, and other shops I went to.
I was actually quite surprised at how challenging it was to develop this very simple new habit.
I forgot over and over again to bring the bags into the store and even scratched my head as to what to do with the bags when I got into the checkout aisle. Â Was proper etiquette to hand the bags to the cashier, or do I nonchalantly toss them over into the bagging area?
An “easy” resolution that I thought would be such a quick success turned out to be a 3 month ordeal of relearning my shopping habits entirely! Â I persisted despite the frequent setbacks and here is what I learned (I am now very comfortable with my new habit, I’m happy to say):
7 Tips for an Easy Transition to to Reusable Bags
- Buy enough bags! Â I made this mistake for several weeks before realizing I needed about 5 bags in the car. Â The reason is that when I go shopping, I usually make all the rounds at once. Â I typically use 2 bags at the grocery store, so if you only have two bags in the car, you won’t have any for the quick trip into Target or the department store.
- Put bags in both cars! Â Another mistake I made was only putting the reusable bags in my car. Â It took me several misfires before I realized that I actually do a lot of shopping using my husband’s car because mine is already in the garage after dinner and his is typically still in the driveway. Â I like to shop after dinner sometimes which means I would prefer the convenience of using his car as I ran out the door.
- Keep the bags in the car, not in the house! Â I can’t tell you how many times I arrived at the store only to realize the bags were at home sitting on the kitchen table. Â Keep them in the car at all times as you never know when you are going to need to run a quick errand.
- After you unload your purchases in the house, take the bags right back out to the car! Â Or, at least put them right by your keys, wallet, or purse so you don’t forget to take them back out to the car the very next time you go somewhere.
- Don’t be ashamed to say to the cashier – “Oops, I forgot my bags, let me run out to the car and get them!” Yes, it’s true. Â I actually did this a few times purposely embarrassing myself and making the clerk wait for me so that I would not forget to bring the bags into the store from the car again!
- Have bags that are for produce and meats and other bags for “clean” items like clothes, shampoo etc. Â Â Â Different colors or designs on each bag helps with telling which bag is for what purpose.
- Don’t forget to wash the bags every now and then. Â Â Reusable bags can get nasty bacteria in them after only a few trips to the store, so make sure to wash them in a mild detergent every week or two. This may seem incredibly obvious, but surprisingly, most people do not seem to realize the importance of doing it.
If you haven’t yet made the switch to reusable bags, I would encourage you to consider it. Perhaps these tips can help you avoid some of the surprising pitfalls I encountered as I made the transition.
And, please don’t use the excuse that you somehow need the bags given out at the store. The plastic bags at the store are made from petroleum that takes centuries to degrade and the paper ones are made from trees that take decades to grow. Â If you must have bags for use at home, buy biodegradable eco-plastic ones instead.
It really is a lot easier using reusable bags than dealing with the stacks of brown paper bags or plastic bags that needed to be recycled. Â I don’t claim to be perfect in this area as I occasionally need one bag here or there due to an unforeseen circumstance, but I have definitely eliminated 99% of my need for store bags.
Believe it or not, this is much less stressful way to shop once you get the hang of it!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
It IS possible she had a project she needed paper bags for. I've gotten paper bags when we need them for things.
I do almost all my shopping at the farmer's market. I was using recycled bags for everything, and then I realized we had nothing for picking up after the dogs when we're out and about. We were resorting to using the large kitchen garbage bags. So I went bag to getting plastic bags, despite the dirty looks I get from other shoppers.
Carrie – great tip about just loading up the stuff in the cart if you forget the bags in the car and bagging when you get to the parking lot!
Arabella – WOW! You have inspired me to maybe attempt to get rid of the plastic garbage bags too! How do you do this?
Thanks for posting this.
My 2 cents: If I forget my bags in the car or at home, I load up a shopping cart without bags and either put it in bags when I get to the car or just put it in the car.
Sarah, I really enjoyed this post.
I am an avid non-plastic bag user – and paper bags also for that matter.
I also made the transition some years ago to NEVER take disposable bags from supermarket or retail stores and also to make our house plastic-free (including garbage bags).
What i've found handy is to use a cotton, hemp, linen or other biodegradable fibre bag (many of the common eco-friendly bags are recyclable, but NOT biodegradable, if you use a natural fibre it can biodegrade – you can even toss it in your compost or worm farm when you are finished with it). Any of these bags can neatly fold up into a small ball and squash in my handbag. that way, whenever i am out shopping, i ALWAYS have a bag onhand. In addition to this – yes, always keep a few in the car, or on the bike rack!!
Thanks for your post.
I have an answer for the produce bags! I bought some hand sewn ones on Etsy. They're just netting with a ribbon draw string. I think I paid $1 for each one? It's cheaper and easy to make your own, but I like to support small businesses. Etsy.com if you're not familiar. I also bought a few string bags for reusable grocery bags on Etsy, but because they're string, I always end up fumbling for several minutes until I get the right end opened, and that's a little embarrassing. They're super cute, though.
Unfortunately, I do forget my bags more often than not, and have recently been in the habit of not packing bags at all. I do recycle the plastic bags, and I use them to pack our lunch for work (we work together, so normal lunch bags are far too small and are never set up for how we pack). Plus, the cashiers don't know what to do with my bags, and always start bagging before I can get up there and give me an annoyed look if I ask them to please use up my bags first. The first time I bought a store's reusable bag, it tore, so I won't buy those any more. :-/ I do need to get back in the habit, though!
I thought it was only me. I am in the "process" of learning this habit. By now I have followed most of the steps. I finally put them in my car (need to get some for hubby's tho), when I unload they go right back to the car but I keep forgetting to bring them in. I am going to take your suggestion and go back out to the car and get them. Never thought to have different bags for items, good idea and never thought to wash them either. Thanks for the tips!
i've been using reusable bags for some time and I still from time to time forget them in the car (which is the best place to keep them!) and I never thought to wash them…duh! I'll be doing that tonight!!
I'm also looking for a solution on the produce bags — I HATE all that waste, and I have no idea how to reuse them when I get home — they don't seem to be the kind of plastic I want on my food.
I bought a set (3 or 4) slightly different size mesh bags with draw string closures. They work great for produce & are washable. You may need more than 1 set if you buy a lot of produce at one time. I think I found them in the produce dept at my store but I think you can also get them at Bed Bath; they are not too expensive. I keep then with my other bags so I don’t forget them.
me to got at dollar store in auto dept for organizingg a car but work great. however I took a 2 yr sabbatical after having my baby. have enough to remember and carry for first 2 yrs. she is now 22m and I’m trying to remember to get them. however back of car is stuck so until I get the new car we buy tomoro on road so I can get to them oh well. but soon. yah. altho I reuse lots of YES plastic bags for garbage round here. I stopped using those but again when baby was born hubby insisted on them for trash cause he is to lazy to take it right out and burn it. yes I can i live in the middle of no where and everyone within 10 miles of me does burn what they can. soon Im taking back over trash again too! no more bags then!!!!
We use cheapie mesh laundry bags for produce, too. About 5/pkg at the dollar store, I think. (They only come into contact with the outside of the produce, which I wash, anyway, so I’m not hugely concerned about the quality of the bag itself. But if you ARE, you can buy specially-made mesh produce bags, or make them out of some other airy fabric like cotton gauze.
I take them back to the store for the next purchase, and use them as over wraps for loaves of bread and cheese, storage bags for cut produce (1/2 an onion, etc.), covers for a plate or bowl of leftovers.
I live in NYC and do most of my shopping without a car. When I DO plan ahead and have enough bags with me (I now almost always have small foldable ones with me because they come in handy in so many ways), I find the reusable bags are MUCH easier to carry than the plastic or paper, hold more, pack better — in fact the "convenience" of disposable bags is not really a convenience any more! Besides the heartbreak of the waste. I do use the plastic bags from stores for my trash bags (apartment living, they are as large as fit in a compactor), but find that the few that I get from when I forget my bags, or that I get from friends not yet in the habit, are enough. Paper bags that trickle in get used to collect paper recycling.