Eco-Friendly Grocery Bags

[MrX]

In Ireland they introduced a plastic bag levy a few years ago. If you take a plastic bag in any shop, store, supermarket etc it's 22cent (which would be 34 us cents).

The shop is not allowed to absorb the price and it MUST be printed on the receipt to make you think about it basically.

We cut plastic bag consumption by 95% in a very short space of time. It's not that the charge is so big that it hurts, but it's enough to make you think.

At our peak in 2001 we were using 1.2 billion bags per year for only 4 million people!

Plastic bags are not only a source of extra CO2 and a waste of oil, but they also get into the environment very easily and end up stuck in trees / hedges and generally causing problems.

Our change over to an almost plastic bag free society was pretty painless. You just bring your own shopping bags, it's not that difficult.

Also, if you ask for plastic bags for a big trolley (cart) of groceries people will look at you like as if you just asked if they mind if you smoke a cigar in the vegetable aisle ... i.e. in shock / horror.

 

[perc-o-prince]

90% of the time I use Price Chopper's paper bags for my groceries. In their second life, these serve well for packing heavy items, like typewriters, for shipping. 9 paper bags, properly wadded, serve as a great base for heavy goods in an 18" cube box.

I'm recycling them, so they get used at least twice! I know recipients have written that they've re-used the packing material I used, so there's 3 times at least!

Chuck

 

[brisnat81]

Plastic Bags, to buy or not to buy!

We average 10-15 or so plastic bags per shop each week. We rarely end up with a surplus to throw out and they all get reused rather than buying additional bags.

We use them to pick up the dog poop when we go walking, in both the recycling and kitchen waste bins and I wrap my prepared frozen lunches in them to stop the moisture getting into my gym gear.

If we did use green bags, we'd then have to start buying packages of plastic bags instead to use in the bins and when we chase teh dog around.

The alternative to using plastic at all, would be start using newspaper to line the kitchen bins and to wrap food scraps. Then though we'd have to wash the kitchen bins and the Wheelie bins each week, which then takes time and water.

Those who reuse green bags, what do you put your rubbish in? If you buy rubbish bags, doesnt that defeat the purpose of using green ones in the first place?

 

[MrX]

I use biodegradable and photodegradable plastic bags that dissolve in landfill for my "grey bin" (the non-recyclable rubbish that goes to landfill).

Compostable bags (given free) into my brown bin which takes all the food waste (other than meat). that's collected and composted by the city council and then used on parks / you can buy it for your garden.

Finally, the recyclable plastics/paper/cardboard/cans go into a special branded plastic bag that is also recycled when it's picked up.

We're charged per KG for non-recyclable waste btw since a few years ago.
There's a microchip in the handle of the 'wheelie bin' trash can. When it's lifted the truck weighs it and you're invoiced like any utility bill at the end of each quarter!
So, overall I'm not wasting much plastic

 

[blackstone]

There is actually a trash bin that has a microchip in it, which gets weighed by the truck? Do you have any links that describe this system? Sounds interesting.
Fred

 

[xyz]

I do have one of the new canvas bags from wal-Mart, thanks to my wife's compulsive buying but I really like Sav-A-Lot-s boxes that they supply to carry your groceries home in. They make great storage (long or short term) and my cats love to have a box to play and sleep in. i heard that california was banning plastic bags altogether, is that true?

 

[MrX]

Link to one of the pay-by-weight operators

There are various licensed "waste contractors" in each area in Ireland so you can actually now 'shop around' for your garbage disposal services.

This is just one of quite a few contractors - this particular one is located in the Midwest (Near Limerick City)

http://www.mrbinman.com/menu.asp?menu=25&parent=13

 

[blackstone]

Thanks for the link on waste disposal using the microchips to weigh trash bins. We use the same type of waste bins here in Springfield, Mass., but I have never heard of weighing them on the truck. We do have separate collections (waste bins) for recyclables--including plastic, glass, and paper. Grass and leaves are collected in special paper bags.

There is a constant discussion on how to reduce waste disposal costs and increase recycling. Each idea usually costs more money, so taxpayers object. Much of my waste is scrap metal anyways (appliances, etc.), which I bring to the junkyard. I get paid for the metal and wires, so that suits me fine.

I was just interested in the idea of weighing trash bins. Thanks for the link.

Fred

 

[sudsmaster]

Most of my grocery shopping is at Costco, where you're lucky if they give you a box to carry smaller items in. During the summer, the vegetable garden provides a fair amount of produce, no bagging needed.

Personally I don't mind the plastic bags at Safeway/Pak 'N Save, but I don't save them when I get home; I will save most paper bags but those are getting pretty scarce. I have a couple of re-usable bags in the cupboard and find they can be handy for transporting stuff to/from worksite. I guess I could start using them for the occasional visit to the supermarket. I generally turn down offer of bag for one or two items at other stores that I could easily just hand carry.