Newsletters: January - February 2008

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Beyond Paper vs. Plastic

Natural Times-January/February 2008

By June Wiaz

One of the small ways we can make our environmental footprint smaller is to use fewer resources to transport our groceries. Paper grocery bags are made from kraft paper (kraft is the German word for strongÑnot macaroni and cheese). These bags require more energy and water to manufacture than plastic bags but are more commonly recycled; plastic is much cheaper to make, requires fewer resources, but stays around for hundreds of years. (Unfortunately, only about 1 percent of plastic bags in the U.S. are recycled.)Ireland got so fed up with plastic bag litter that it imposed a 15-cent per bag tax. This has significantly reduced plastic litter AND has raised more than 10,000,000 euros thus far.

At New Leaf Market we have not so much a paper vs. plastic conundrum as a reusable bag vs. recyclable (paper) bag dilemma. While NLM does offer plastic as an option, only about 100 plastic bags are used per week as compared to roughly 3,600 large, handled paper bagsÑand another 1,000 smaller paper bags. Given that the average commercially grown tree yields the equivalent of about 715 large bags, New Leaf Market's customers use about 300 trees worth of paper bags annually. At 13 cents per large bag, plus the costs of other bags, this adds up to well over $26,000 per yearÑresources the Co-op easily could put to better use.

So how do we encourage our shoppers to carry reusable bags? We can start by training ourselves to bring the bags into the store. It's not enough to remember to put them in the car. You have to actually have them with you at the checkout. (Can you hear me yelling at myself right now?)

Although most of us know we should get in the reusable bag habit, there are some challenges. Mental lapses noted above are an issue. Reluctance to purchase the canvas or other reusable bags can be another. But if you look in your hall closet, you'll probably find bags already waiting for you to acknowledge their desire to be fulfilled, or filled, anyway. Go now and put them in your car. Place them prominently in the shotgun seat of your car. And most importantly, bring them into the store. This is how you can do your part to turn wood pulp for grocery bags into fiction (pulp fiction, that is).

For those of our shoppers who are crafty or even like me ("Velcro-y"), it's a cinch to make your own washable, reusable bags. Got a bunch of T-shirts that are tamari-stained or have slogans that have lost their meaning, e.g., "I partied at Jason's bar mitzvah" when Jason is now a 28-year old lawyer? These T-shirts make perfect bags: just cut off the sleeves and stitch the neck and armholes closed (dental floss works well). You can even use the sleeve material to make handles. I have done this with two T-shirts thus far.
And now to just remember to bring them into the store...