The Environmental Benefits of Using Reusable Bags

Today's world is full of messages about things that are "bad for the environment." Thankfully, we're finding solutions to all these issues and eco-friendly product reviews can be found all over the web. One problem that people are alarmingly unaware of is the ridiculously high number of plastic bags that the world consumes. Estimates range from 500 billion to 1 trillion. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of bags.

Unfortunately, the economics of plastic recycling are such that it costs exponentially more to recycle a bag than to make a new one. Thus, few plastic bags are recycled and most are left to linger on the Earth for the next 1,000 years in landfills, trees, oceans, and everywhere in between. Animals are dying from eating them and the atmosphere is being polluted during their production and distribution. Oil is used to produce plastic bags, meaning that the more plastic bags we use, the more oil we use. Let's not forget that oil is a finite, non-renewable, resource.

Plastic bags are bad for the environment. There's really no arguing it. However, we can all do our part and fight this battle by adopting the use of one of the great eco-friendly products - reusable shopping bags.

One set of reusable bags has the potential to "save" over 20,000 plastic bags throughout one's lifetime. At first that sounds absurd. But if you really think about it - how many plastic bags do you bring home on a weekly basis? 5? 10? It all depends on how much shopping you do, and how many people you're shopping for, but a family of 5 can easily use 60 bags in a month. That's 720 bags a year. Those numbers add up fast. 720 bags is a lot of dead animals, pollution, oil, and litter that can be avoided by using reusable bags. A set of 4 reusable bags will easily be able to handle that family's shopping for a year, won't pollute, won't kill any animals, and won't consume finite resources.....and can be reused for many years.

Do us all a favor and start using reusable bags today. Next time the cashier asks you, "Paper or plastic?," support the environment by telling them, "No thanks, I brought my own bags."