There has to be a better way to get your groceries home. Whether we prefer paper or plastic, the fact remains that we use dozens of bags per visit to the local grocery store. Ninety five percent of the time, those bags just get thrown away ten minutes later.
When I was abroad in Germany, I noticed that they didn’t even have any complimentary bags (besides the tiny, thin vegetable bags), but you had to buy them for around 35 cents at the counter. This deterred a lot of people from using any bags at all. Here in the US, we are seeing some reusable bags being sold at the checkout counter, but are they the best solution? I feel that most shoppers wouldn’t plan ahead enough to bring their bags with them every time they want something, and most shoppers are too cheap to pay for a bag when they can have unlimited free ones. Additionally, I found this article about how they can be breeding grounds for bacteria and could pose a serious health risk:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2009/05/a-new-health-threat-ecofriendly-bags.html
Does anyone have a better solution? Maybe a reusable exchange program, where the stores collect and wash reusable bags (similar to washing and reusing glass bottles)? Should more stores start implementing a hefty fee for normal bags? Or discontinue them altogether?
Posted by dzalan 
