February's Challenge: Eliminate Plastic Bags!

"If you don't mind, I'll just take that by itself, without a bag."

I don't want to take a plastic bag home with me...another plastic bag to shove in the front hall closet, so I tell mostly teenage cashiers that if they don't mind, I'd prefer not to take one of their bags home with me.  I know that it's ridiculous to put it this way, and eventually I'll get better at telling them, "I don't want a plastic bag, thank you." I'll state it, just like that, instead of saying it in an apologetic tone.

Does this sound familiar to you at all?

I'm working on it...

Someday I won’t feel like I'm imposing on a store just because I want to break the grand shopping tradition of toting arm loads of plastic bags home.  I really do want to get more assertive when it comes to dealing with retailers.  After all, it’s their job to please their customers, not the other way around.

According to Greenloop, "Each year over 1 million birds and sea mammals die from plastic ingestion or entanglement.  Fifteen million trees are cut down every year to make paper bags in this country.  Less than 1% of plastic shopping bags get recycled.  12 Million barrels of oil are used annually to produce plastic bags in the US."

Over the last couple of years, it's been getting easier and easier to be a consumer who shops without the use of plastic bags.  In our front hall closet we have a big pile of cotton and canvas shopping bags, and on a good day, I remember to bring them with me.  (The trick seems to be leaving some cloth bags or a basket in the trunk of the car.)  I even bought reusable mesh shopping bags, which I love because it means I don't even have to use those thin, clear plastic bags when I buy produce.

February’s Challenge

This month, BlogHers ACT Canada’s mission is to eliminate the use of plastic shopping bags.  We don’t just want to cut back on using them, we want to get rid of them completely. If China can do it, so can you!  Getting rid of the bags you have lying around in your home is the first step.

We've got prizes!

We realize that this is an uphill battle.  Maybe your family has a mountain of plastic bags stashed somewhere at home.  If this is the case, how creative can you get with them?  Can you find an alternative use for those evil plastic bags? Gather all of the plastic bags from around your home and do something with them.  Make a tote bag.  Make a hat. Anything.  Then, take a photo of your creation and blog about it. Or, take a photo that shows how you deal with those plastic shopping bags in another way, like recycling them.  Don’t forget to comment back here by February 15th, when a random draw of participants will determine the five winners of these EcoMomsAct prizes: three winners will receive a Greenloop reusable shopping bag, one winner a Skeeda reusable bag, and another winner will receive a set of reusable mesh produce BYO Bags.  Prizes are all courtesy of the lovely ladies at Green Mom Finds.  Good luck!

Comments

[Nicole]

So I did it here http://rti.serveblog.net/wordpress/index.php/2008/02/09/sharing-the-love-of-books-spreading-the-hatred-of-bags/

And I am coveting those BYO reusable produce bags.

[Stefanie Schmidt]

I used all my plastic bags to make some jellyfish! I teach marine science classes, so the kids loved making their own sea jelly to take home. It also helped teach how bad bags can be to turtles if they end up in the ocean. I would love to win a reusable bag!

[Adventures In Babywearing]

I'd love to win- not sure if you have to be in Canada to win? I've posted about my elimination of plastic & paper bags here if that counts: http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2007/04/green-is-my-signature-color.html

Steph

[echoroc]

I witnessed a cashier who, after being told by me that I didn't need a bag, THROW THE BAG IN THE TRASH. WTF YOU IDIOT!!!!!

[Shama-Lama Mama]

Oh my gosh, I SO love the fabrics on those Skeeda bags! You can stop using plastic AND look stylish at the same time!! Thanks for the awesome giveaway. Here is my entry!

http://tinyurl.com/2mcfua

I read recently a fascinating and sad article about how the plastic that DO biodegrade eventually break down into their smallest possible pieces and end up in the ocean. Unfortunately, they greatly resemble the plankton that so many fish eat as their staple diet. Fish caught and opened are being found with bellies partly full of plankton, and mostly full of polymers!! So even the biodegradable plastic is forever changing our environment for the worse. I cannot locate the article, but this tells about the situation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_Gyre

[Monet]

I can barely crochet with yarn, let alone from yarn made from plastic bags, but my grandmother can. so this is my submission on her behalf. and it is with this challenge and her talent that I take inspiration in an outstanding way to reuse plastic grocery bags. why not make a stylish tote bag or beach bag from the many many bags that pile up? what a fun way to condense, reuse, and re-purpose. Clearly she is not the originator, but she did create and her "bags" are still around and still used years later...the many bags she saved from ending up in landfills, in oceans, or blowing around on freeway off-ramps.
http://everythingbutpickles.blogspot.com/

[Karen]

I don't have an entry to post, but a few months ago I made a friend's baby a cool crunchy pillow filled with old plastic bags! He loves it because it crinkles when you touch it.

[Shannon S.]

I hate plastic bags too and want to use something reuseable but I don't want to carry 30 tote bags to the store every time I go(or pay for them).

I found a cool website that is offering free, reuseable bins made from recycled plastic for free to anyone who signs up. I am waiting for mine - they said they were just getting things up and running and would be sending them asap. I can't wait.

I just thought you might like to check them out, too. www.earthbinclub.org I hope they're as cool as I think they'll be!