I’ve bought them. Actually I have 12 of them from three different stores. Some are pretty; some are pure utilitarian. I prefer the pretty ones. I’ve become a collector. They sit in the trunk of my car. Or worse, at home, in my bag closet with all of my other bags.
I’m talking about those reusable eco-friendly grocery bags sold at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Target, Schnucks...everywhere.
I’m sure my bag closet is no different than most everyone else’s. Aside from the politically correct reusable version, my stash includes no less than 40 plastic supermarket bags, paper supermarket bags and my favorite, department store shopping bags. They run the gamut from the so-so Nordstrom bag to the gorgeous (and unnecessarily but wonderfully durable) Neiman Marcus bags.
In an effort to become more environmentally conscious, I’ve decided to actually use these "green" bags that I’ve bought. And not use them just some of the time but almost all of the time I shop. I’m cutting myself some slack you’ll note, with the “almost” every time I shop. Hey, I’m human.
So here’s how this epiphany and subsequent call to action came about... Over lunch at Provisions my super-green, super-cool girlfriend, Monica and I got on the topic of these bags. Unfortunately what precipitated this conversation was me making fun of some “do-gooder” schlepping in her kind of ugly green bags. I admit it, I went there.
I don’t want to sound preachy here. However, what I learned about the environmental and financial costs to all of us by continuing to use plastic and paper grocery bags was very eye-opening to me. According to Monica, in New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by 5 million lbs. and save $250,000 in disposal costs. This, I learned, is not just Monica spouting off, but a legit Sierra Club stat.
Appealing to my frugal/cheap side, I like that there’s money to be made in using your own bags. Many stores offer bag credits. In most cases, it's 10 cents per bag. Just a little quick math tells me that if I shop two times a week and use five bags each time, I make back $1.00 a week. I know it’s just a dollar but still…
Now for the fun part, deciding which bags to buy. I have my criteria and you should too. For me, they have to be cool looking and inexpensive. No weird muted shades or pictures of barren vistas with sad looking animals in the background.
To give you an idea of what I like, my favorite bag in my collection was designed for Whole Foods by Missouri native, Sheryl Crow. I love it.
So starting tomorrow, my eco-simple process will be as follows. I will throw my pretty green bags into my trunk. I will bring them into the store, fill them up, receive my bag credits, bring them home and unpack them. Bring them back out to my trunk (the most difficult step), and repeat.
And in the interest of being true to my sometimes compulsive shopping tendencies, if I hear that Diane von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, or maybe even Rachel Zoe have designed eco-friendly grocery bags, I’ll absolutely break down and buy them.
My bag closet still has some space.
Debbie Kramer , formerly with NBC's "Dateline," is a local freelancer and an expert in eco-friendly products.
