Reusable Bags Require Some Patience

Photo: Steve Diddle / Istock

related articles

In various places all over this country, people are waking up to the problem of plastics bags—namely that they are ubiquitous, end up in trees and water ways, and just about never break down. News of taxes or bans on plastic bags is spreading, and some people, who are trying to be more earth friendly or who want to prepare for the inevitable in their communities, are attempting to go plastic bag-less. That means, you have to remember to bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store and actually use them.

Jacquielynn Floyd recounts her attempt at plastic bag-lessness in the Dallas Morning News, and she covers some important points.

First, you've got to have reusable bags, which she did. Not wanting to make a grand political or fashion statement, Floyd felt that buying a new $40 canvas bag with the words Think Green on the side kind of defeated the purpose. So she went ahead with her already owned Vitamin World and C-Span logo totes (as she said, the C-Span bag might as well have said I'm a Big Nerd.) You've got to be ok with what your bags say about you.

Next, unless you're in a Whole Foods-type environment in a community that has rallied around the problem of plastic bags, you might be considered a nuisance.

Floyd writes, "They might give you a beaming round of applause for bringing your own bags to the Whole Foods, but at Kroger, you're just holding up the line. Clerks who have refined scan-and-bag to a precision-timed art form have to be reminded that you want to bag your own stuff; if you set up a canvas bag on those self-checkout counters, the weight sensor thinks you're trying to steal something."

Ugh. And of course there was a line forming.

Finally, chicken juice spilled in one of her canvas bags on to the seat of her car, which she can still smell.

Kudos to her for trying. It can only get easier, as she and the clerks learn to pack the bags properly, and as the importance of plastic bag reduction gets more press. She ends by asking for some understanding: "If you wind up fuming in a waiting line while I'm trying to wrestle a six-pack of Bud into a canvas tote bag, try to spare me a little patience. It's not political, I promise. It's practical."

COMMENTS ()