BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag
By Megan Masek
With the recent fees that some retailers are starting to apply to your total purchase for the use of their plastic bags, you might want to bring your own bag for that reason alone. Otherwise, join the latest international trend and lifestyle of helping to save this beautiful planet by using reusable bags instead of paper or plastic, and make using your reusable bag a habit.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, shoppers in the United States use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags every year and recycle only a small percentage of them. A large number still end up in landfills or cause harm to the environment in other ways without ever being reused. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says it takes a paper bag one month and a plastic bag 1000 years to break down in the environment, in turn polluting the soil, rivers, lakes and oceans. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation. Reusable bags were sold in March 2007 for a fundraiser in the U.K., the trend caught on quickly, sparked a lot of interest in many markets, and retailers and health food chains began offering the alternative bags nationally.
So you may ask, what is a reusable bag? They are commonly made of recycled materials, nylon, canvas, and types of fabric, among other materials, and reusable bags are made to be light-weight, durable, easy to fold, pack, and carry around. They have many uses besides their intention to replace paper and plastic bags while shopping, like packing a lunch or clothes for the gym, laundry, magazines, books, and paperwork to name a few. And most are washable!
Most retailers offer reusable bags and at very affordable prices, most being about a dollar. Wal-Mart offers their “Paper or Plastic? Neither” bag for a dollar each plus tax. Their bags are made from 85% recycled contents, and they take bags back at the end of their life-span for recycling.
H-E-B sells their bag for $0.99 each plus tax, and five-cents from the sale of each bag will go toward establishing H-E-B’s Green Bag Grants for recycling programs through Keep Texas Beautiful. Other retailers have similar concepts, and some even charge for the use of their plastic bags like IKEA. They charge customers in the U.S. five cents for every plastic they use. Then there are companies like Whole Foods who give consumers a discount of ten-cents off of their purchase for each reusable bag they use.
This is not just a trend, using reusable bags is a lifestyle. Basically, in the words one San Marcos, Texas resident, “It’s a good cause, so why not?” Saving this planet is an amazing cause that we should all participate it, so why not? There is a difference in having a reusable bag and using it. This is fast paced world we live in and it is easy to forget things that basically are not attached to us. That’s why you should keep your reusable bag in places like your purse, backpack, pocket, in your car, pantry, near your shopping list or anywhere else where you would be reminded to use it at all times.
“I feel like it’s a small step that makes a big difference,” said another San Marcos resident when I asked her why she uses reusable bags. She’s right, and it’s amazing that something so inexpensive and a gesture so small makes an enormous difference.
With the recent fees that some retailers are starting to apply to your total purchase for the use of their plastic bags, you might want to bring your own bag for that reason alone. Otherwise, join the latest international trend and lifestyle of helping to save this beautiful planet by using reusable bags instead of paper or plastic, and make using your reusable bag a habit.According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, shoppers in the United States use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags every year and recycle only a small percentage of them. A large number still end up in landfills or cause harm to the environment in other ways without ever being reused. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says it takes a paper bag one month and a plastic bag 1000 years to break down in the environment, in turn polluting the soil, rivers, lakes and oceans. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation. Reusable bags were sold in March 2007 for a fundraiser in the U.K., the trend caught on quickly, sparked a lot of interest in many markets, and retailers and health food chains began offering the alternative bags nationally.
So you may ask, what is a reusable bag? They are commonly made of recycled materials, nylon, canvas, and types of fabric, among other materials, and reusable bags are made to be light-weight, durable, easy to fold, pack, and carry around. They have many uses besides their intention to replace paper and plastic bags while shopping, like packing a lunch or clothes for the gym, laundry, magazines, books, and paperwork to name a few. And most are washable!
Most retailers offer reusable bags and at very affordable prices, most being about a dollar. Wal-Mart offers their “Paper or Plastic? Neither” bag for a dollar each plus tax. Their bags are made from 85% recycled contents, and they take bags back at the end of their life-span for recycling.
H-E-B sells their bag for $0.99 each plus tax, and five-cents from the sale of each bag will go toward establishing H-E-B’s Green Bag Grants for recycling programs through Keep Texas Beautiful. Other retailers have similar concepts, and some even charge for the use of their plastic bags like IKEA. They charge customers in the U.S. five cents for every plastic they use. Then there are companies like Whole Foods who give consumers a discount of ten-cents off of their purchase for each reusable bag they use.This is not just a trend, using reusable bags is a lifestyle. Basically, in the words one San Marcos, Texas resident, “It’s a good cause, so why not?” Saving this planet is an amazing cause that we should all participate it, so why not? There is a difference in having a reusable bag and using it. This is fast paced world we live in and it is easy to forget things that basically are not attached to us. That’s why you should keep your reusable bag in places like your purse, backpack, pocket, in your car, pantry, near your shopping list or anywhere else where you would be reminded to use it at all times.
“I feel like it’s a small step that makes a big difference,” said another San Marcos resident when I asked her why she uses reusable bags. She’s right, and it’s amazing that something so inexpensive and a gesture so small makes an enormous difference.
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