3 ms·

> not to mention that stores in the U.S. use some 100 billion plastic bags every year It is amazing how many people still do not use reusable tote bags. If yo

by agentgt 10y ago

> not to mention that stores in the U.S. use some 100 billion plastic bags every year It is amazing how many people still do not use reusable tote bags. If your like me and you forget to bring them or put them back into the car one way to remember is to put them on your coat rack or next to your master grocery list (ie a pad of paper you fill out during the week). Even if I forget the bags I will often buy a new tote bag at the store.... in practice the more bags I have the less I seem to forget them (ie spares in the car). I'm incredibly lazy so I have to imagine many others can do it.

x1798DE 10y ago
I'm dubious on the value of reusable tote bags. For one thing, I pretty heavily re-use plastic bags that I get, anyway. I use them to bring my lunch to and from work, I use them as laundry and shoe-bags when traveling (to keep dirty things separate from clean clothes in a single bag), and then I (and everyone I've ever met) use them as trash can liners for small trash cans. Given the large amount of additional resources it takes to create one of these reusable tote bags, and the fact that you need to wash them occasionally, it's not clear to me that they are a net benefit, even if you always know ahead of time that you are going to the store and always remember to bring them with you.
- agentgt 10y ago
  In my experience a single reusuable tote bag can carry 8x of a typical grocery store plastic bag. We have bags that are 6 years old and probably been used more than 200 times. They are polypropylene bags which apparently are often made from recycled bags anyway. As for reusing plastic bags I do that as well as inevitable you will pick up some. As for washing bags I almost never do because almost everything put in the bag is in some other container. At least you have the option with reusable bags to clean them and thus could pre remove residues and toxins. With plastic bags you might be exposed to various toxins (albeit probably at low levels). Just pickup and smell new plastic bags if you don't believe me. Ideally you shouldn't smell anything but I almost always do which means something volatile is being released. The other issue is plastic bags aren't just bad because they take oil and energy to make... they are pretty awful for wild life. I have actually had to help turtles in the Charles River get out of plastic bags. Apparently poly bags take 11x what it takes to make a single plastic bag [1]. But this again doesn't take into account how much you can overload a reusable bag with out them breaking and previously mentioned points (as well as being far more comfortable to hold on to... I just love how plastic bags cut off blood supply to fingers). As for paper bags... they rip and suck in the rain. [1]: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-reusable-bags-worse-for-environment-than-plastic-2014-01-09 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-reusable-bags-worse-for...

by agentgt 10y ago

x1798DE 10y ago

I'm dubious on the value of reusable tote bags. For one thing, I pretty heavily re-use plastic bags that I get, anyway. I use them to bring my lunch to and from work, I use them as laundry and shoe-bags when traveling (to keep dirty things separate from clean clothes in a single bag), and then I (and everyone I've ever met) use them as trash can liners for small trash cans. Given the large amount of additional resources it takes to create one of these reusable tote bags, and the fact that you need to wash them occasionally, it's not clear to me that they are a net benefit, even if you always know ahead of time that you are going to the store and always remember to bring them with you.

agentgt 10y ago
In my experience a single reusuable tote bag can carry 8x of a typical grocery store plastic bag. We have bags that are 6 years old and probably been used more than 200 times. They are polypropylene bags which apparently are often made from recycled bags anyway. As for reusing plastic bags I do that as well as inevitable you will pick up some. As for washing bags I almost never do because almost everything put in the bag is in some other container. At least you have the option with reusable bags to clean them and thus could pre remove residues and toxins. With plastic bags you might be exposed to various toxins (albeit probably at low levels). Just pickup and smell new plastic bags if you don't believe me. Ideally you shouldn't smell anything but I almost always do which means something volatile is being released. The other issue is plastic bags aren't just bad because they take oil and energy to make... they are pretty awful for wild life. I have actually had to help turtles in the Charles River get out of plastic bags. Apparently poly bags take 11x what it takes to make a single plastic bag [1]. But this again doesn't take into account how much you can overload a reusable bag with out them breaking and previously mentioned points (as well as being far more comfortable to hold on to... I just love how plastic bags cut off blood supply to fingers). As for paper bags... they rip and suck in the rain. [1]: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-reusable-bags-worse-for-environment-than-plastic-2014-01-09 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-reusable-bags-worse-for...