re-usable bags

I use re-usable bags wen i have them with me because they are stronger and bigger than normal carrier bags. I seem to forget taking the re-usable bags quite often, so i use normal carrier bags then. Our local shop has recently started charging 2p per carrier bag, which i find stupid because they can be recycled so i think its just another way for them to make money. The shop gets the bags for nothing anyway, so why do they have the right to charge us 2p for each bag. I just hope supermarkets don't start charging us, because if we forget the re-usable bags when we buy our food shopping we would be paying loads for plastic bags. ~Joeys wife

hi tiffiny,,its nice to hear from you...well carrying own shopping bag? i prefer to get the new one...

i love tote bags! they are so neat and environmental friendly too!! :) people should start being more concerned about our environmental nowadays. i think we do need to be aware as much. however, i am guilty as charged! i still widely use plastic in almost anything. Plastics are cheap and they are almost everywhere.

I am trying desperately to learn to use my own cloth bags. It is hard to remember to always have them with me, but I am slowly learning. To make the plastic bags that we have all come to love (convenience!) requires petroleum. As we all know, petroleum is getting to be a really expensive commodity (look at our gas prices!). Any thing that we can possibly do to reduce our reliance on petroleum is good! I am trying to take my cloth bag to the store, bring the groceries home, and then hang the cloth bag on the door knob to the front door so that I see it the next morning and take it back to the car when I leave for work. For large shopping trips, I imagine that I am going to have to acquire more of the cloth bags and perhaps put them into a tote. At the store, when all the bags are loaded with groceries, I will stand them in a box in the back of my trunk. Like with the plastic bags, I'll make several trips into the house.

I haven't done that yet...carried my own bag. I know lots of people that do. How much can you get in one though. If you go grocery shopping I'd have to carry several as I only go about once a month. Dollar General has the right idea. They have biodegradable ones. If they don't use them in a certain amount of time they disinagrate! So when you bring them home they automatically are enviromentally friendly! That would be the way to go as far as I am concerned!

I have seen them recently too and haven't wanted to spend the money on them. I think maybe the stores should give us some sort of incentive since we have to buy the bags. Maybe if everytime you brought them you saved some money. The stores have to buy the plastic ones anyways so they are saving monney. I hate the plastic ones, they don't fit very much and break.

I do both, I do most of my shopping at a store where you provide your own bags or buy theirs. I have 2 of the cloth bags and also I take extra bags with me to the store. I also use the plastic bags from regular stores. I use them to line small trash cans. Also I have 2 litter boxes that I clean out daily, I use them for that. I will be buying some more cloth bags, it does help the environment and since I have to provide my own bags or buy some, its just makes sense for me. The cloth bags are nice and sturdy too. I was able to put 2 gallons of milk and 3 jugs of juice in 1 bag and carry it. It didn't rip or break neither.

If i was a single woman and didn't have a kid and a LOT of groceries to buy I would definately pick one or two up and use them! I think its a great idea actually!

Personally, I feel if they are wanting us to resort to these types of things, or go back to using Paper instead of plastic, they need to make these cheaper, and more readily available. I still use Plastic, and I cannot afford to get all kinds of bags like these for groceries, as when you do major shopping, how many of these will it take? Maybe this is supposed to be a Good idea, but I feel it is one lacking some thought. There has to be a better solution to this one, or people will continue to use Plastic, or bulk when they take it away. If the type of plastic is really a Big deal, maybe they just need to create a safer plastic?

I don't carry tote bags with me, but I usually carry a backpack over my shoulder for all kinds of things, so that's what I use to put my purchases in when I go to the grocery store, etc. I don't know how you can recycle those thin plastic bags. My town won't take them in recycling. Even if they can be recycled where you live, the best thing is to not use them in the first place, if you can avoid it. It takes energy to collect recyclables, sort them, clean them, and then turn them into other items. " Reduce, reuse, recycle" is the phrase you often hear, and that's the order that's best: reduce the amount of plastic, packaging, etc. that you use; reuse this stuff if you do have to use it, and recycle it if you can. Recycling is the last resort.

It's better than using plastic because you can reuse it again and again and not create more waste, which is better than making plastic bags even if you reuse them. My grocery store does give you discount if you bring you own bag. I always use my backpack if I can, unless I need more bags.

Reusuable shopping bags are a lot better for the environment than constantly using the plastic shopping bags. Just because you do recycle, does not mean that by recycling, it automatically cuts off your need to use reusable shopping bags. It takes a lot to make plastic bags, and those plastic bags hardly ever actually get recycle and just end up taking over landfills and end up in trees and strangling animals. You are better off using reusable bags. Better for the environment and better on the pocket. When you buy items, you're also getting charged for the bags when you purchase items. When they're completely gone, you'll save some cash.

I use plastic still, I though of using those tote bags. They don't seem to hold that much though and with the amount of groceries I get I would need like 20 of them.

I take my own bags with me to the grocery store (and sometimes other stores. I March a couple of the grocery stores here in the Denver Metro area will no longer have the disposable paper or plastic bags, they will have reusable plastic bags (made of recycled plastic) for sale for $1.00 each. I keep my reusable bags in the trunk of the car, since there is no grocery store within walking distance. After I have unpacked the groceries I fold the bags up, put them all in one bag and hang it on the front door knob to take it back to the car. This way I make sure that I always have the bags with me. I have purchased one of the insulated bags so that I can carry frozen things in the summer, I bought that long before I started always using the reusable bags for grocery shopping and really liked that. No more melted ice cream. And you don't have to buy the bags, you can make them pretty easily, they can be made out of old jeans or other scrap materials. Just measure the fabric the same width (add and inch for seams) as you're normal shopping bag and the same length, add about 6 inches for depth, hems etc. Sew both long sides (use at least 1/2 inch seams), hem the top, seam the bottom. On the bottom go in about four inches on both sides and stitch across the bottom of the bag. Turn the bag inside out. The bag should have a square bottom now. Sew handles at the top (I put on handles) that will fit over my shoulder because I prefer to carry my groceries that way. Make as many bags as you usually use bring home from the store (and then maybe, make another one or two). It can take a while to get use to taking these bags with you, but it is no more of a change than recycling or any of the other changes that we are being asked to make. And in view of the problems that the world is being faced with don't you think it is probably with it.

I dont mind using the plastic, and i recycle them as often as i can, but i use the plastic ones around the house to put diapers in, so they dont stench as bad in the garbage, and i use them to carry stuff in. They really have multi uses. I guess i would use those reuseable bags more often if they were free. I was a cashier for a little while and i found sticking stuff in those bags was a little annoying when you have a big lineup and your trying to be fast! cause the plastic bags hold themselves open on those stands, the reusable ones are big and floppy and awkward!

They have stopped using plastic bags altogether at one super store here and you have to bring your own bags. I bought 5 of the re-usables and I love them. I always forget to take them in other stores when I should though. The reason I like them is they are mush sturdier and no longer do my bags rip and my stuff leaving a trail in my wake. I think they are the way of the future and in two years people will be used to it and plastic bags will be a thing of the future.

I know what your talking about but I haven't seen grocery stores give them out to use around here. I've seen people take some in that they own to buy items with. But I don't see why it would be such a big deal. The fabric used it easy to rip after repeated usage, so you would be adding more money to your budget just to buy personal bags to shop with. However they are good for flea markets, which I've seen tons of people buying and selling there and using them to shop with because it's more secure than carrying around plastic bags with valuable stuff that you just purchased there with.

Obviously it's ideal not to use plastic, but I think that as long as you are doing your bit, then it all helps.