Green Bags

Surely everyone owns and regularly uses reusable grocery bags by now, right? After all, the Worldwatch Institute estimates that over 100 billion (yeah, I said BILLION) plastic bags are thrown away every year, so it's an easy way to have a big impact. Wrong.

As a matter of fact, according to a Stanford University graduate professor, Baba Shiv, in a Wall Street Journal article, it can take years, even decades, for consumers to change their shopping practices. And often, they will only change them "when there's a personal reward or an obvious taboo associated." To that point in the same article, Phil Rozenski, director of environmental strategies at the plastic bag maker Hilex Poly Co., says that initial studies indicate that only about 10% of consumers reuse the reusable bags they purchase.

So in spite of the fact that it's very popular to sell reusable bags (what retail store doesn't have it's own brand on a bag now) or even to give them away (people are even giving them as guest gifts at weddings), there's not yet enough social pressure to get people to actually use them the way they are intended ... instead of plastic.

Probably, we need one of two things to happen. Either more cities/states go the way of San Francisco or of retailers like Whole Foods and Ikea, and ban the use of plastic bags or make you pay if want one, or we start creating social pressure to use the bags. We gotta make it “cool” to reuse your reusables or at least very uncool not to have one with you at all times. Hmm, who could start that trend? Maybe hip, young college kids? Probably not an oldie like me though I do use my Green Bags often. As a matter of fact, I’m off to the store now, reusables in-hand. Think anyone will see me and think I’m cool? Hope so!