About Those Reusable Bags

There's a trick to replacing your plastic and paper bags with reusable ones. In order to make a difference, you have to use them! Quite a few articles have come my way recently talking about the incredible number of reusable bags being given away by corporations, environmental groups, and stores everywhere.

The truth about reusable shopping bags is that most of them are manufactured in China, shipped thousands of miles overseas, are made with plastic and could take years to decompose. So if you are not going to use them, you are actually worse of by taking one that's offered to you. However, if you change your habits (and this one does take a little work), each bag used multiple times - at least once a week - can replace 520 plastic bags a year. You might need four or five of them to hit that mark but think of the impact.

Simples hints for changing your habits are to put the bags in your car or by the door you use to go out of the house. You can even put a reminder on your grocery list. That way when you are checking to see if you have everything you need on the list - it will trigger your memory! And if, like me, you get stuck in the grocery line without it at times, you have two choices. One is to go back out to the car and get it (and that's extra exercise too) or the other is to take whichever bag you know you will reuse most - paper or plastic.

Here's to your success in making a difference by taking one simple little step to preserve the planet!