7gen Bloc

Sustainability is a journey. Keep moving forward, and I'll do my best to do the same.

One step at a time! I started with using Chico Bags because they were cute and compact, never thinking I'd be able to do much more, but now am building a rain barrel tonight and actually thinking about composting. Two years ago I would have NEVER thought I'd be this far!

We're all doing the "one step a time" journey!

Two years ago I became a fanatic recycler. A year ago, I was just cottoning on to the BYOB idea, and then I started my own green living blog, www.thegreenestdollar.com.

This year? I'm about to start vermicomposting in my kitchen!

Every journey is made up a million of small steps. And, we're all taking them together, which makes it really exciting!

Nice job! We're with you!

Bet you can't guess how wide I'm smiling. Thanks!

One step at a time. We will be an example and people will see it. They will follow. My daughter has moved out and actually brings her recycling to me. The rest of my family used to roll their eyes at me, but they've know it's all for the planet. And it really isn't that difficult. Our 7th generation TP isn't the softest, but they have stopped complaining. We now all remember to BYOB into all stores, not just the grocery store. I HAVE begun vermicomposting, even though I have an outside compost pile. In the winter, the pile is inactive so I keep the compost growing with my worms. My rain barrel is just a trash barrel under catching the rain. Nothing fancy but it saves money and water. It seems extreme to you now, but pretty soon it's all just a way of life. Keep up the good work.

We use reusable shopping bags from several stores, but we also need to take care of rotting material in the trash pail in our home.. and we see no alternative but to use plastic bags, which have to keep some modicum of neatness for the entire week between trash pickups. We have a garden and a compost pile, and both benefit from the fruit and vegetable trash that feeds that system. Nevertheless, much trash has to go in that big truck every week, and leaving it open to the air invites all manner of problems, so we bag it. I see no alternative. Hey, the landfill itself just buries the stuff, and seals it in. They have not come up with any other answer, and they take trash from even NY City.. carted all the way here to get rid of it. Plastic bags are not going to be elimnated until somebody comes up with a short term storage alternative that is fully biodegradeable and that is affordable. So far, that need has not been met.

In response to "Dealing with garbage". From my understanding there are biodegradeable bags available. I think they are made out of corn. One of our local stores "Indigo" carries them. They do have a web site. I've not purchased any so I do not know about the size or anything.

I agree with the others that one step at a time is the way to go. Also talk to others. I have "converted" at least two others to using reusable bags.

At Christmas time I purchase several bags and use them as gift bags. This also helps encourage those that received the bag as a gift to use it while shopping. So no wrapping paper trash, most of the bags are only 99¢ so I save money, and more people using reusable bags at the grocery store. That gets me excited.

The old saying goes something like "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step." Kudos to you! Gosh, my mother back in the 60's started us off on all these endeavors most folks are just now getting started with. Back then, you got paper bags from the grocery stores. Plastic was unheard of. To save money, Loretta Longpockets as she was called, used those paper grocery bags in the kitchen garbage can. Only dry items could go into the garbage. Every bit of compostable stuff, including coffee grounds and eggshells, went into the empty waxed paper milk cartons. Back then, milk came in either those cartons or glass. When the carton was full, we'd take the stuff back to the compost pile, dump it in, and rinse out that carton again to reuse. When I first married in 1975, I continued the practice 'cause it was all I knew, and my new husband looked at me like I was crazy. Today, I have my 'green' tote bags, which I keep a stash of in my car just in case. But, you know, I still use those milk cartons! Some habits die hard! HaHa

This post was really discouraging. I applaud your desire to take up the "my own shopping bag" mantra and to spend the time researching the not-so-fabulous facts about plastic bags. But your admission of being a "shopping queen" and liking them because they color-coordinate your outfits causes me pause. I am not sure you really get it. Shopping is the problem and having several in several colors is the problem.

I agree, it is a journey we are on, but I try to live my life by this quote from Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patatonia - "The more you know, the less you need".

I encourage you to try the same.

Congrats on using reusable bags. FYI, Trader Joes makes completely recyclable reusable bags from plastic bottles that are sturdy and only 99 cents each. Also- biobags are the recycled biodegradable and very sturdy bags you can use for household trash or dog poo. They are compostable also. You can get them at most places that carry 'green' products or on their website www.biobagusa.com
Michele

Reusable shopping bags will always be the best approach towards reducing throw-away bags bags. However, it always amazes me when we pick on 1 plastic product like its the part of the evil-empire while other plastics pass under our radar with no commentary. Your point about bags taking 1000 years to decompose is dangerous. Landfills are like tupperware containers that are sealed to not allow anything inside (heat, moisture, air, sunlight) so claiming that anything decomposes faster than another is misleading as 20 year old carrots and newspapers remain intact in landfills. The other major "greenwash" are retailers who offer "biodegradable bags". Bags are either polyethylene /petroleum-based bags or petro-based bags with an additive that fragments them into tiny bits or they are BPI certified compostable bags like Biobags that contain zero petroleum. So dont believe the hype, do the right thing and carry your favorite lightweight reusable bag to your favorite coop & bag away !!!

Just to let you know, alot of those plastic grocery store bags are made from recycled milk cartons. They are also, in themselves, recycleable. I beg of you all to remember that if you want to be able to continue to recycle you need to buy recycled products. If there is no market for recycled materials, there is no reason to have a recycle center. It's all about money: supply and demand. Also, most of the "greener" canvas bags aren't all that green. Some are made of polypropylene (#5 plastic) that wears out too. Simply switching what type of plastic is used in a plastic bag doesn't make it any better. What would be better is a bag made of recycled material, or all natural cloth, like canvas (because that is biodegradable). Also, there are bags called BioBags which are made out of corn, and can be home-composted. Also, some new plastics that are made out of corn are not home-compostable; or recyclable. They go to the trash unless your area has a industrial composter. In our area, instead of a landfill, our community burns our garbage in order to provide electricity to run our government buildings. They go through the trash first for recyclables (such as plastics, they leave the paper though); then they burn the remaining, and go through the ashes for the metals so they can also be recycled. It is so awesome how they have had this system in place for years. Funnny, most people doen't even know this is happening. Do the rest of you actually know how your community takes care of its garbage, or do you assume it all goes to a landfill? Time to take a deeper look. . . .

When I saw people buying cloth bags for their groceries, i realized that i had a lot of cloth tote bags not being used. So now I keep 3 of these in the car. They're also good for carrying library books and DVDs, etc.

Glad to see an intelligent take on the plastic bag issue amid all the nonsense coming from the plastics industry. The bottom line is, consuming less is the only sustainable option. A handful of high-quality reusable bags will replace thousands of disposables and with modern sustainable fabrics, many of the reusable bags on the market can either be recycled into new material or are natural fibers than can be composted at the end of their long life cycle. And bags are just the beginning - soon people will start to realize the waste they're creating with plastic water bottles, plastic sandwich baggies, paper towels and dozens of other disposables that are easily replaced with reusables.
It was great to see some facts from ReusableBags.com sited in the story - you can see more of them here.

I completely agree with your thoughts about our culture of consumerism--it is seductive and rampant! At the same time, I also agree with all the other comments that going green is a journey, a process. So, if having attractive re-usable bags can get folks to take that all-important first-step, I think that's great--those steps should be encouraged, with other greenies offering support and ideas about how to build on that change.

Chicobag (chicobag.com) is another great self-contained bag, which, by the way, now offers a bag made from recycled plastic bottles. I carry one in my purse and keep one in my car.