Ditch the Plastic - Use your own Shopping Bags
Some supermarkets are encouraging customers to use cloth bags for shopping. At Green Eyed Frog we have a selection of Eco Shopping bags which will help you gain extra points if you shop at Tesco but are really handy to keep in the car, handbag or coat pocket. You can try the organic, fair trade cotton coloured string bags made in India using natural pigments or the jute every day shopper. I use the recycling bags with bamboo handles. You can fit two or three of these in the trolley and are easy to transport into the car. I also use them to take my orders to the Post Office - it just makes life easier.
Help prevent marine pollution. Turtles are mistaking upturned plastic bags for their favourite food, jellyfish, with deadly results. By reducing the amount of plastic bags you can help the environment - Say No to Plastic!
Simply excellent. Please propagate this idea wherever possible. Please circulate to all retail chain owners.
ReplyDeleteMost people who use cotton bags need to purchase other plastic bags to use for bin liners etc. for which they used to use the plastic shopping bags. In countries where bags are banned or taxed, sales of other plastic bags have gone through the roof!
ReplyDeleteAlso ignored is the impact of the cotton bags, including the aqdditional fuel used to carry them around. If everyone used them, this would account for thousands of tons of extra weight carried in our cars.
Gerard, Sydney, Australia
I agree about using the plastic bags as bin liners, we do this but only use 3 a week. Our weekly shop with a family of five used to use up at least 10 plastic bags.
ReplyDeleteThere are alot of other issues around the environmental impact of plastic bags such as marine pollution and their manufacture from oil, a fossil fuel. Cloth bags are a one off purchase and should last for years. I haven't noticed that they are heavy in my pocket or handbag, certaily not the string bags. Even using a couple of cloth bags for the weekly shop would help reduce the plastic bag mountain. Cloth bags also look nicer than the plastic and could be seen as an urban fashion accessory - not here in rural Suffolk - just functional - no need to even put any lippy on way out in the sticks! Lucky as I don't wear it anyway!