Submitted By: Becky Shafi (fun4shafis@yahoo.com)
Challenge
When I looked at this presentation with my daughter, both of us vowed to help each other to stop using plastic shopping bags. Here are some of the things we do:
Solution Details
Step 1 - Reduce
We stock up on reusable canvas shopping bags and keep them in our car. I carry a big purse, and when I forget my canvas bag, I'll stick my shopping items in my purse rather than in a plastic bag. I'll hand the bag back to the clerk and say "save the earth." Hopefully inspiring others to do the same. If I have absolutely no choice, I will ask for a paper bag and use this bag to line my recycle bin.
Chico bags are the best . They are small and they fit in your purse or backpack. They are the perfect grocery shopping size -- and are also great for the farmer's market.
Step 2 - Reuse
No matter how hard we try, we inevitably end up with plastic bags. They come on our bread wrappers, our bagel bags, and on other food wrappers. We save these to reuse them where we can. Here are some of the ways we reuse our plastic bags to further their life cycle and hopefully help to keep them from entering our waterways.
I keep these plastic bags in a drawer. Whenever we take our dog for a walk, I'll grab a few. One for my dog's pooper scooper, and the others I donate to the bin on the trail that is available to folks who may have forgotten theirs.
Plastic bags are great to take on outings in your canvas picnic bag. You can use them to hold wet clothes, or to collect any trash you may want to bring back with you from your picnic.
Step 3 - Recycle
But, the absolute best place for plastic bags is back to the grocery store where they usually have a recycle bin.
Thinking about our use of plastic bags is a classic reduce, reuse, recycle story. First we reduce our use of plastic bags, then we reuse them where it makes sense, then finally we recycle them in the proper manner.
The three R's will take you far!
