Tue 8 Apr 2008
What do you choose when you’re at the grocery store? Why? Is your answer “(c) other”?
Do you even have a choice? Do you remember a point where you didn’t?
Posted by Josh Millard13 answers so far!
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Plastic. I’ve always assumed they’re less harmful to the environment, though I’ve never researched it or anything. More importantly, they make great garbage and recycling bags. Don’t think I’ve ever bought trash can liners.
I *try* to carry a tote back or backpack so I don’t need to get a bag at all. Otherwise, plastic, to use for trash later.
Plastic. The ones that don’t get used as trash bags or dog-poop bags get turned back in at the store for recycling.
I use re-useable cloth bags primarily. If I don’t have those with me, plastic - I need them for dog poop.
We use both; plastic gets used as secondary-trashcan liners (we use some Hefty bags for the main kitchen trash, which makes it easier to empty the smaller bins into it when its time to take it down), and paper gets used for storing up recyclables before we take those down.
(C) other: I bring reusable totes with me. But I only have a couple, so if there’s overflow:
Paper. I’ve always assumed they’re less harmful to the environment. Also, we use paper bags for recycling in these parts. (And if I get too many they get recycled.) They’re also very useful to hold waste from construction projects, like when you’re tearing down drywall and such.
The plastic bags that I collect from other stores that don’t offer a choice (and from the grocery store when they insist on wrapping odd items in them) I use for dog poop and trash can liners.
Plastic. They get used for cat poop and the rest are recycled at the grocery store. I don’t know if our grocery store (Safeway) even offers paper bags.
Plastic if I’m at Safeway (saves me from making the checker find the three paper bags in the whole store), paper if I’m at Whole Foods, unless it’s raining. Then I take plastic.
Whole Foods is converting to only paper bags on earth day. I feel a little weird about that, because I’m not entirely convinced that paper is the better environmental choice. It seems like if they wanted to do a big earth day sort of thing, they’d start charging for bags and not offer any for free.
I take my canvas bags, take my canvas bags, take my canvas bags to the supermarket.
Plastic. I use them again for many things, including kitty waste. I used them to pack my snacks for my bus trip to the MeFi meet-up this past weekend, for instance (what fun! Cortex we did a shoutout to you!). I have a brightly-colored cloth sack in the kitchen to store them, but to tell the truth, I also have a pile underneath it.
My folks always use paper bags, as they live in the country and they put old newspapers in the bags for recycling. I also save all my bottles for my neighbor so he can have pin money and use the plastic bags for that.
Sometimes we get a paper bag for the cat, but recently we found a cat tunnel that sounds like a paper bag. Guess what? He likes the real ones better :::sigh:::
Plastic.
Re-used as incendiary insect munitions.
Whole Foods/Trader Joes bags are worth their weight in if not gold, then certainly silver.
We do all three, actually. We like to keep paper bags on hand to round up the paper recycling and plastic bags on hand for rounding up used diapers. Mostly we try to use the canvas bags, though, because it’s more responsible (natch), and Kroger gives you five cents off your purchase for every bag you bring with you, whether it gets used or not.
Target actually sells canvas bags that fold up to a package about the size of a 45 record and close with a snap, and when you unfold them, they’re freaking huge. Weirdly enough, I can’t find them on their website, but they are red and full of awesome.