I carry re-usable bags with me most places. I have a system in place so I remember them whether I’m going to the grocery store, the farmer’s market, or just a friend’s house. The result has been that far fewer plastic bags come into our home. We had piles and piles of them, stemming the tide was really a good thing. Plus, you know, we were reducing and re-using and all that jazz.
But. (There’s always a but, isn’t there?) Like a lot of people we use old grocery bags for a lot of our household garbage. And since we had so many it took us ages before we ran out. Of course we do occasionally acquire more, because we forget them or someone gives us something in one or we buy something that can’t be easily carried in one of our re-usable bags. But where we used to bring 6 or more bags a week into our house, it now averages out to less than 1. So run out we did.
And then we faced a conundrum. What to do? Do we just purposely ‘forget’ our re-usable bags when we go to the grocery store once in a while? Do we ask others for their old bags? Or do we find a better option? And what would a better option even look like?
Plastic grocery bags are pretty thin compared to the bags marketed specifically for garbage, and so it seems clear that they’re a better choice than a kitchen catcher. Many contemporary grocery bags even contain recycled plastic and bear claims that they will biodegrade, which also makes them seem like a better choice than many other garbage bags.
But is there something better than ordinary plastic? Paper would likely be a greener option, but no stores that I’ve been to recently even offer paper. Plus, I’m not sure how well paper bags would fit inside most of our garbage cans. In some places they sell biodegradable bags made from corn, but I haven’t seen them in any stores locally. And they may not live up to their hype. Apparently nothing biodegrades in a landfill anyway, because the necessary conditions just aren’t present. Even ‘compostable’ bags require special conditions, present only in industrial composters that most people don’t have access to.
But let’s say the bags do biodegrade. Even still, I have my qualms. I think that using a food grain to store our trash or fuel our cars is kind of concerning. It increases the demand on corn, which can lead to increased food prices. But even beyond that, the way that we’re currently growing corn is not environmentally friendly. The pesticides and fertilizers we use, the way that fields are cultivated, and even the genetically-modified corn itself all raise serious concerns. It’s just not clear at all that corn-based plastics are actually a greener choice.
So, where does that leave us? We will continue to use our plastic grocery bags. If there is not much garbage on garbage day, or if the garbage isn’t terribly offensive, we just dump the contents of the can into the bag we take to the curb, and re-use the grocery bag for another week (or two or seventeen). And of course we recycle, compost, and generally reduce waste in whatever way we can so that we don’t need as many bags. I’m also thinking of asking friends and relatives if they have any old bags we can have so that I’m not going out and acquiring something new. But I don’t have any better answers than that.
What about you? What do you use for your garbage? And do you have any ‘green’ options that you think I should know about? I would love to hear your tips and tricks.
If you shop at any major grocery store, they all still have paper bags….I ask for them every once in a while for craft projects for the girls. And Sobeys are the best. They have handles which make them super easy to carry and if you reuse your bags, you get 5 cents off per bag on each use afterwards. Come Christmas time we ask for paper bags too so that we can make wrapping paper. And, the newer version of Superstore – No Frills, has boxes that are stacked up for use and reuse, sort of like Costco. Not that boxes will help with your household garbage. All we can do is our best though, and it sounds like that is what you guys are doing.
We don’t have curb side pick up anymore now that we live in the county. Now I have to actually sort all my recyclables which is pain. But, we have large stacking bins with lids that flip up. We have them inside for the winter and out for the summer. We also have a composte for our food and lawn stuff. We also burn alot of cardboard and paper in our fire pit. I like the glass bottles you buy for milk – have to check those out.
When it comes time to take our recycling into town, then I use the blue bags, but I reuse those alot of the time. There are no easy answers here – other than just keep doing your best!
I think about this topic all the time. Martin’s grandma had hundreds of little garbage bags in her basement, so we’ve been using some of those for months now. I keep trying to figure out what we should do when we run out. It’s always so tricky, so I’m glad to hear you’re in the same boat. Sorry I don’t have a solution or even suggestion yet… I hope a future commenter can.
Katie
When you start looking at problems through a causal loop framework you realize there just aren’t any perfect answers. Like you mentioned, corn based bags are biodegradable but they turn valuable food into trash bags, which means someone, somewhere is going without nutrition so we can take out our garbage.
You can’t package medicines in biodegradable packaging because of security risks. Remember the Tylenol tampering of the early 80’s?
We can all start composting our own waste. Perfect, except people in condo’s don’t have access to a composter. No problem, we’ll make apartment sized ones out of plastic. Oh, producing plastic consumes a lot of energy (and water) and that energy is provided by a coal burning plant. So if we make composters to reduce waste it comes at the expense of the air…oh.
We have to recycle. We have to conserve water. This is where I get really confused; we must clean our recyclables using clean, drinkable water. What’s more important; conserving clean water or recycling packaging?
There are no easy answers or solutions.
I’ve been in the same boat with running out of supermarket bags that we use to line trash bins. I carefully folded away my plastic bags from regular shopping for years, so I’m still working my way through those – they are all different sizes, so it takes longer to find ones that fit, but we have plastic for a while yet. Not sure what we’ll do after that.
I read an alarming piece of news today that the price of recycled material has plummeted, which means that many cities are having trouble funding their programs.
I’m waiting for a good solution to this myself!
At the moment I use cloth bags to shop, and I recycle the pastic bags that my husband brings home from the store. I buy Kirkland Kitchen Bags (they’re plastic) for garbage, but I do everything I can to avoid garbage. I recycle, compost and garburate everything that I can.
Still, every trash bag that gets discarded is one more in the landfill. What to do, what to do? Great post
it certainly is a conundrum. we re-use the plastic grocery bags for kitchen trash, and yes we do run out sometimes when i’ve been super-organised with the re-usable bags. if i see we’re running low then my next grocery shop is without the reusables. ‘fancy’ plastic bags get recycled for sports equipment or gifting or as packaging for my craft business (for which i also reuse shipping materials – no complaints so far, even in person for larger items at craft fairs – i love the paper bags which starbucks hands out).
i think we all do what we can and slowly, surely increase what we can too (especially by reading how other inspirational people are managing to do it too!)
Great post, and great question. We are also never sure how to handle this one. We are almost always out of plastic bags these days, and I am so embarrassed to admit that I use the *same* plastic bag to pick up my dog’s poop on our walks and then I clean it and reuse it. My family is disgusted with me!! Thankfully we’ve gotten garbage down to a bare minimum, although like you, I’m still torn over the garbage bag issue.
I was so impressed when I visited Toronto a couple years ago and saw what an amazing array of stuff went into their green bins. Everything that could remotely be composted went into there, including fats, papers, meat waste, and animal waste. The bins had lids, and the city garbage truck picked the things up with a big claw so the sanitation workers didn’t have to lift/touch the things. The landfill reduction from that strategy must be immense.
I wonder sometimes if a bin system would be a general boon to landfill handling, and to plastic reduction. Recycling and composting bins, but also bins for pure garbage. Think of it — we would all keep a garbage pail in our houses, it would get emptied into a (secured against animals) big bin, which is collected by the machinery of the city. No plastic used to transport the garbage from house to bin, no plastic encasing our garbage in the landfills and preventing even what waste degradation is possible in that circumstance.
Hello everyone,
I saw the comments about going green and being more environmentally friendly. I think it is great that so many people are waking up to the fact that the planet is in trouble and that we need to act now in order to help. I think with global warming creeping up on us, I think it is very important that we become more aware of trying to lower our carbon emissions, and try and do right by the planet. I think we can all do our little bit extra to try and help! At home I always shut the computer down rather than putting it to sleep, and always turn off electrics rather than leave them on stand by. These tips may seem small, but if everyone pulled together then I think we could really make a difference to the world. Another hint I have is that I now use e-Cards rather than buying paper cards. Not only are you saving money if you choose a free site, but more importantly, you are helping the environment by saving paper, and therefore less trees need to be chopped down! I have done my research and finally found the best free Environmentally Friendly e-Card site. It is really easy to use, which is great if like me you are not very good with computers! I really like this particular site as there is just so much choice. I know e-Cards are not for everyone but think of the environment it really is a great way to help out and do your bit! Kind Regards, Nic.
Oxo-biodegradable bags also are a good alternative.
From what I’ve read on the subject, during the manufacturing process, an oxo-boiodegradable additive is used. This additive is blended into the plastic during the extrusion process, so, it is less harmful for the environment.
I personally like the brand EconoGreen from Jig-A-Loo, the company I represent. Their new line of plastic bags are made from 100% recycled plastic, are 100% oxodegradable and 100% recyclable. So it is a good thing to do, as grocery plastic bags can’t be having the same technology…
You can get more info about EconoGreen there: http://www.jigaloo.com/ca/e_products_econogreen.php