Plastic bags…what’s the deal?
Cloth reusable bags were my first eco-living choice without me even knowing what a "sustainable lifestyle" or "sustainable swap" was. Over the last few months, I wanted to dive in deeper to truly understand why we should encourage others to "pass on plastic," and I learned way more than I ever wanted to know about the plastic bag, so I'll give you the CliffsNotes version.
“Cloth reusable bags were my first eco-living choice without even knowing it.”
Let’s dive in!
WHAT'S IT MADE OUT OF?
Plastic bags are made from oil. Interesting...but not something I completely understood the magnitude of. So...
For a bit more perspective, I did a bunch of research diving in to the habits of families living in the US. Did you know that we use 100 billion plastic bags per year? That's a lot of bags! AND all of these bags require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture, and that's only for US consumers. This is interesting, and crazy to think about.
However, this fact alone, didn't quite shock me enough. Keep reading to find out what made my jaw drop.
*lots of plastic bags means having to find a place to store them in your home. Don't use your beautiful space for that, fill it with something you love instead!
WHAT'S THE LIFE OF THE BAG?
A plastic bag is used for an average of 12 minutes and it takes 1000 years to decompose. The average American family takes home about 1,500 plastic bags per year. *cue jaw drop
I remember discovering this piece of information and it truly gave me a new perspective. Sometimes using plastic is unavoidable and it truly provides a great convenience. However, if we can choose to use a reusable with more and more frequency to build a routine, we could have a large impact.
*also, some states in the US are beginning to charge a plastic bag tax, so let's save money and get ahead of that by building awesome sustainable habits now!
WHERE DO THEY GO WHEN WE RECYCLE THEM?
An estimated 300 million plastic bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean every year...but why?
Recent changes in plastic recycling markets have made recycling of plastic bags nearly impossible. Which in turn means, less and less grocery stores are accepting plastic bags for recycling because it is costing too much to recycle them.
*also, let's cut down on one more errand or responsibility we have in our lives. We don't need to spend our precious moments dropping off our bags to a recycling point.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
It's hard to always remember a bag, so give yourself some grace! It gets easier as you build the routine, I promise. I always leave a tiny one in my purse since I'm always out and about in the city. When I was living in Virginia with a car, I always kept one (or a few) in the trunk of my car just in case! One last tip is to hang one near my keys (and mask these days), or right on the door if I know I'm going out shopping later in the day.
In my opinion, reusable bags are way cuter than a plastic bag anyways, so let's look cute!
I've linked some of my favorite options for city living, farmer's markets, and beyond!
