Bag-lady Angst
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By now, anyone who is paying even a little attention to the world of green, has heard the message to carry your own bags into the store. But, if you’re anything like me, there are times that I forget to either bring them into the store or put them back into my vehicle. When that happens, and I’m standing at the counter, I sift through my head about what I should do to make the right environmental choice. While I stand there paralyzed to make a decision, the checkout person stares at me and wonders if they should be calling someone about my condition.
Some tips I’ve discovered that help me:
- If you have a child, make it their responsibility to bring the bags (you could even go so far as to offer a reward for remembering to your child). Even with my son being only four-years-old, he’s got the memory right now of an elephant. He loves reminding me that I forgot his bags and he understands the benefits of helping mommy bring them into the store.
- Find a good use for the bag that you take. We recycle newspapers in our house and always use the paper bags to hold them for recycling. Another person in our office uses the paper in place of plastic garbage bags, and a third uses it to clean up after their dog. If you can replace another product to offset that bag you used, that has lowered your overall use of resources.
- Purchase a bag and use it in place of a gift bag or wrapping paper for your next present. This is a huge hit with my friends, who all seem to not have enough bags. And the cost of most of the reusable shopping bags is less than a gift bag. Dress it up with some ribbon or other decorations and you’re good to go.
- Finally, don’t take a bag at all. How many times do you only have two or three items that you carried in your hands to the counter that you could carry to your vehicle? If you’re using this strategy, though, remember to tell the cashier right away. Too often, if I tell the person “oh, I don’t need a bag” after the product is IN THE BAG, the cashier has actually taken the product out and then thrown the bag away. That was a completely unintended consequence. If that happens, I make them take the bag out of the garbage and give it back to me to reuse.
Read more of my posts at www.EasyBeingGreen.Info
I forgot my reusable bags on a recent trip to Earth Fare. There were two women outside the store passing out used plastic bags to folks like me. For every one of their plastic bags I used, Earth Fare made a donation to an Autism charity. So I felt much better about my forgetfulness. Pretty cool, huh?
My angst is recycling cardboard. Easy, no mess, but I keep forgetting to drop off in the dumpster at a local recycling center. I pass by this dumpster 3 days a week going to work. The money from this special dumpster goes to local charities. I let it pile up, then my husband gets tired of seeing it and well….. you know
I hereby promise to 1. take the cardboard by once weekly or 2. Find a better hiding place for it.
Karen
http://www.gardenchick.com
http://www.gardenchick.com/garden-blog
If you find a hiding place that’s too, good, though, you’ll forget it’s there as well!