Using Clothe Bags for Shopping

[silverflameca]

OK, I'm from British Columbia and we're stereotyped as being kind of hippies. And well, I am really big on recycling and I'd like to save the environment and all that if possible (I'm studying geography and hopefully climate change, so I can maybe help study situations).
So everyone out there who does their own groceries, please invest in some reusable clothe (or plastic so long as they're durable and made for being reusable) bags! Most local grocery stores here in Canada sell the clothe ones for 99 cents and in Ireland they sell durable plastic ones for the same price. I still have the bags I bought in Ireland 3 years ago and they are in great condition! They hold a ton of groceries (and now also my laundry).
If your parents do the groceries, please encourage them to use reusable bags as well! My family has been doing it since I was a child and I couldn't imagine shopping any other way! The fabric bags hold so much and usually have easier to carry handles - they're soft and don't twist around your hands like normal plastic bags.

[Raech is Outrageous]

i use normal plastic bags. and that's
what i'm going to continue to use... :}

[silverflameca]

I'm curious though, are they easier to use do you think? Also, do you throw them out right away? Please, at least find another use for them first. They do take years to decompose and aren't good for the environment. When I shop for things other then groceries I often end up with plastic bags and those get used to carry my gym shoes or as a garbage bag, etc.

[Iron Knee]

whatever as i long as i get to keep my hummer

[carslyle]

When I worked at a grocery store I always encouraged folks to buy and use our canvas bags, not so much because of environmental reasons but because those bags he sold could hold 30 lbs of groceries and not even strain.

[misleading space shibe]

My parents would never go for that.
I'd probably start though when I'm older and live on my own.
Don't care if people stereotype me as a hippy.
I want plain ones though. Dx
Ones that I can decorate. x3

The only thing I need the plastic bags for is for throwing dog s**t out.

[Raech is Outrageous]

silverflameca

I'm curious though, are they easier to use do you think? Also, do you throw them out right away? Please, at least find another use for them first. They do take years to decompose and aren't good for the environment. When I shop for things other then groceries I often end up with plastic bags and those get used to carry my gym shoes or as a garbage bag, etc.

i reuse them when i scoop the catbox :}

[Sehnsucht Nocturne]

I use plastic bags usually, but I do reuse them. See, I have cats and hamsters, and well, if you take their used litter out and dump it directly into the trash, it will stink to high heavens. So, I put it on a plastic bag (that I save in a bag-holder), tie it up, and then throw it in the trash. I also use palstic bags to wrap potentially leakable items when I travel. But, for carrying things around, I use canvas bags, and use them for shopping as well when I don't need plastic bags.

[Fenton Buzzard]

We have a whole cabinet for hoarding old paper/plastic grocery bags at my house. sweatdrop
But reuse them as bags for our garbage cans and other things.

Those canvas bags are nice, but it's also nice not having to buy plastic bags for garbage.
If I had a nice bag, I'd probably use it...though I think if all stores let people use bags that they walked in with, it might be more difficult for store personnel to spot people shoplifting. neutral

[Unspecial_Brownie]

We have some, but my mom always forgets them when she buys groceries confused .

[Desiree_Visage]

Mikusae Strange

My parents would never go for that.
I'd probably start though when I'm older and live on my own.
Don't care if people stereotype me as a hippy.
I want plain ones though. Dx
Ones that I can decorate. x3

The only thing I need the plastic bags for is for throwing dog s**t out.

Ah; me too. The dog s**t thing, I mean.

[xXLame_JaneXx]

silverflameca

I'm curious though, are they easier to use do you think? Also, do you throw them out right away? Please, at least find another use for them first. They do take years to decompose and aren't good for the environment. When I shop for things other then groceries I often end up with plastic bags and those get used to carry my gym shoes or as a garbage bag, etc.

I put dirty diapers in them =)

[Travesty]

The biggest grocery chain around here offers cloth bags you can buy and bring back to use again. I've never seen anyone do it, though. One kind is even insulated, though, so they seem kind of handy.

I use plastic bags but I always use them for something else when I take them home. Mostly for lining small trash cans and cleaning out the litter box. If I didn't have plastic shopping bags I would need to buy small trash bags.

[Jazzberry]

I suppose I could do that, but honestly it's just easier to use paper or plastic.
We keep them and reuse them anyway. Maybe when I move out on my own and start my own homestead and traditions I'll buy some canvas totes for groceries.

[Sforzie]

I use plastic bags, because they're what's available. I'm not going to try using canvas bags because I know I'd forget to bring them into the store. (My roommate has canvas bags for groceries, but in the last four months she's used them once.) Some of my plastic bags end up becoming small trash bags, some just become trash. Some hold kitty poo. *shrug* I don't feel particularly bad about it.