Clean Grocery Shopping - Disposable Alternatives

So we all know that taking disposable plastic bags from the grocery store is bad for the environment. We sometimes resort to paper bags, since they are more recyclable or reusable, but the problem doesn't end there. Eventually over 95% of plastic and paper bags are thrown away... or blown away to end up stuck in trees or suffocating dolphins. These days many stores, even Trader Joe's, choose to double bag larger loads so the problem is really only getting worse. Remembering to use "bring along bags" is hard and inconvenient, but there is a solution emerging, read on.

I'll be the first to admit that I forget my reusable bags from time to time, and sometimes I just get lazy. You've probably seen the bags I'm referring to, Safeway and other stores sell them and they're usually made of recycled plastic or cloth, even organic cotton cloth if you shop at Whole Foods. I got a couple free promo bags with the Toyota logo on them from the recent EDTA conference in Washington DC and one more from the NRDC in the mail. This type of green branding has become quite popular and the point I'm trying to make here is that anyone can get a reusable shopping bag, they're not exactly hard to come by, just hard to remember to use.

While these reusable bags are great for reducing plastic and paper waste and the environmental impacts of littering, they do tend to clutter up your passenger or back seat during non grocery related trips and honestly, I'm just not in the habit of checking my trunk before entering stores. Walking to the grocery store or going by bike would solve this problem, but not everyone lives within range. Furthermore, even when you're in the grocery store itself - before actually leaving, plastic bags and packaging abound. From vegetables to fruits and meats, plastic bags are everywhere and sometimes required for weighing and separating.

To address this seemingly inescapable problem, some stores have put out plastic bag recycling bins. I took the picture shown above at a Safeway in my neighborhood near San Francisco, and while it's a nice service to see, I highly doubt it's being offered nation wide. I live in one of the greenest states and cities in the country, but having been raised in Colorado (which is still fairly green) and visiting often, I know it's not like this everywhere. Furthermore, if people have a hard time remembering to bring in a clean reusable bag for shopping, how will they remember to bring in a bunch of junky plastic bags for recycling? I personally think it's more about branding and greenwashing than anything - but hey, progress is good.

You should know, plastic bags along with bottles and other disposables that don't biodegrade naturally, pile up in our oceans and kill hundreds of thousands of animals annually. Birds mistake colorful plastic for fish or jellies and naturally, they try to eat them or feed them to their young. Eventually these birds starve to death or suffocate. Virtually all ocean dwelling creatures are impacted in some way and in turn our seafood is contaminated. You can learn more about these effects in this 8 minute TED video by Charles Moore entitled Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - take the time and watch it now.

So what are the options? I've already discussed the "bring your own bag" model. Anyone can buy one of these non-disposable cloth bags and as long as they remember to use it, things improve drastically. Unfortunately though, remembering is tough... there aren't any local impacts, people aren't ostracizing each other about it, yet. Grocery stores are still happy to ask "paper or plastic" but I believe those days are numbered. Let me compliment Trader Joe's for offering a weekly raffle to shoppers who bring their own bag. As someone who shops with his own bags regularly, let me just say, people DO notice when you bring your own bag and they DO react positively. A creatively decorated bag could even get you a date, or at least a few good looks from the preferred sex. Smart is sexy...

One company has created a smart solution to the BYOB model (bring your own bag...) and it has to do with packaging. Unlike the stiff recycled plastic bags that don't compact very well and the cloth bags that tend to be fairly thick, their bags are thin and nearly seamless. They actually resemble the shape and volume of a plastic bag. In doing so, these bags compact very easily and are much easier to store. The real innovation, however, is in how they are stored. One small stuff sack is included with either three or six of these thin cloth bags inside, and the stuff sack fills out to the size of a cup... So now instead of having junky looking dirty bags floating around your car or out of reach in the trunk you get several clean bags (because they're washable) inn a cup sized stuff sack that fits in your cup holder. Let me repeat that, the stuff sack fits conveniently in your front seat cup holder! Voila! No longer will you forget your bags in the trunk, no longer will your back seat be cluttered, no longer will you be reduced to a walking shopping billboard.

The company is called Olive Smart, as in "All Live Smart", and the bags are available in 3 and 6 packs for $24 and $39 respectively. While this may seem a bit expensive, remember that these bags are washable and you'll be supporting creative sustainability... We're all for it! If you know of other great solutions like this by all means please post them below, and please, take the time to bring your own bag shopping :)