I was wondering when grocery stores would start wising up

[Horse with no Name]

Kudos to all the stores involved for giving away free canvas grocery bags. I hope it catches on.

http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/04/21/48773

>>>snip
H-E-B stores in Temple and Belton will hand out reusable shopping bags to anyone who brings five plastic bags to their stores on Earth Day, this Tuesday, between 3 and 7 p.m. The giveaway is part of a statewide Earth Day celebration in which the Texas-based grocer plans to give away 150,000 bags. They also expect to collect 750,000 plastic bags for recycling.

Austin-based Whole Foods will discontinue use of plastic bags at all their stores beginning on Earth Day. Checkout staff will bag their groceries in paper bags made from recycled materials for customers without reusable bags.

As of last November, large grocery stores in San Francisco can no longer use plastic bags to sack up their customers’ purchases, per a city ordinance.

The Chinese government has banned small and large stores alike from using the thin plastic bags beginning June 1.

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[TexasLady]

2. thanks for this, I didnt know

Im nine miles from Belton HEB here, will be sure to go.

[defendandprotect]

3. I've bought a couple plus the bags I save . .. but ---

there seems to be a disconnect between my brain and actually taking the bags out of the trunk!!!

Why this is so difficult to remember, I have no idea!!!

\

[Kazak]

4. Same here...

I get to the grocery store and think, damn, I should've brought the bags!! :shrug:

[orleans]

7. here's a suggestion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3190466&mesg_id=3190520

[defendandprotect]

12. What I'm doing now is trying to memorize LOCK CAR/TAKE BAGS ....

Hope that's going to work --- !!!


:)

[Lorien]

5. I just put them on the passager seat

Usually inside one of these:



http://cgi.ebay.com/Carrybag-Baroque-Sand-by-Reisenthel_W0QQitemZ170208751195QQihZ007QQcategoryZ63852QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Makes it easy to remember.

[orleans]

6. you'll start remembering--it starts becoming a habit after awhile

after i put the groceries away i stuff all my canvas bags into one big canvas bag and throw them by the back door. i see them on my way out the door and so even if i'm not going to the store i can just grab them and throw them in the car.

or you can put it on your shopping list: TAKE THE BAGS!! circle it. hopefully you'll glance at it before you leave the house--even to add that jar of raspberry jam to the list.

[tblue37]

26. Mine are always in the back seat of my car, but I still forget to

take them into the store most of the time.

[orleans]

27. well, at least if they are close by you can always run out to get them. n/t

[elizfeelinggreat]

28. thanks

This is a great suggestion. I have a bench by the door that I put my library books on so I won't forget and now I'll start putting my totes there also.

[143tbone]

25. You'll get used to it.

Before long it becomes second nature. I put my canvas bag on the front door knob along with used egg cartons to be returned and plastic jugs to be filled with water. Then it goes in the front seat with me so it's hard to forget.

[Warpy]

8. I'll be delighted when those ubiquitous flimsy plastic bags

get reused until they pop, anything to keep them the hell out of my trees. Watching the damned things flap in the wind for 2 years before they finally get too shredded to be obvious is annoying.

I use canvas most places now. I keep them in the car all the time. I also have a string bag small enough to stuff into a handbag.

I love the nickel off I get every time I use them. I also love knowing that other people are seeing that nickel off and taking the hint.

Most of all, I love knowing that when I'm going to recycle the plastic ones, none of them will get away from me on a windy day and end up in the top of the tree in my front yard.

[Richard Steele]

9. What I really need, now that I made reusable shopping bags....

...is a project that would make some good use of the thousand
plastic bags I've accumulated.

There's gotta be SOMETHING I could do with them, but what?

[MountainLaurel]

10. Have any dog parks near you?

They make great poop bags for dog owners, and at a lot of dog parks will be a stash of donated bags for folks who forgot theirs (or who have used up the supply they brought).

That's all I got.

[Horse with no Name]

13. Since they are already manufactured

Donate them to a non-profit thrift store. They can make good use of them and it will keep them from ordering MORE.

[Warpy]

14. I use them for sloppy wet garbage

that I can't put out onto the compost pile. I don't eat much meat, so it consists of non recyclable packaging, unidentifiable and reeking science projects from the back of the fridge, and fish skin and bones.

In fact, my one trip a month to Wally's to get my cheap prescription and a few odds and ends the grocery across the street doesn't carry nets me a whole month's supply of the bags, about four.

[eShirl]

15. crochet a reuseable shopping bag out of thousands of plastic ones?

http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/Plastic%20Bag%20tote.html

[Richard Steele]

16. Oooohhh...now THAT'S an interesting project!

And a very appropriate use to put them to, IMHO!

Thanks! :thumbsup:

[Petrushka]

21. Usually, I return those flimsy bags for recyling. Now, I might keep 'em & crochet a sturdier bag.

Thank you!

[Nicole]

17. Donate them

I volunteer at the food bank. We always need bags. I wonder if Goodwill & other thrift stores need them as well?

As for projects, I use them to stuff other stuff. In fact I just stuffed my patio furniture cushions today. The cushions still look good but were getting too flat for comfort. So I stuffed them with wadded up bags & they are thicker now then when I bought them.

I stuff draft dodgers with them to get rid of the bags & save energy at the same time.

I use bags instead of packing peanuts when mailing gifts.

[CC]

19. A friend crochets them into doormats like a rag rug.

She even did some baskets out of them and a hat. They are really neat and very sturdy.

[tavalon]

23. I have a trash bin on the inside of my sink cupboard that uses small plastic bags with handles

My big problem now is what I'm going to use there now that I'm using up all of my plastic bags and not replenishing them. If that is the level my problems rise to, I am a lucky woman.

[magellan]

11. These are insulated & very similar to the kind I got in England

http://www.amazon.com/Insulated-Reusable-Grocery-Spring-Printed/dp/B0011UFJ9K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1208836818&sr=8-3



There's a lot of interest out there in alternatives to plastic bags. Almost every time I use mine someone asks me about them. I like them much better than canvas bags. And the baggers love them because they fit so much and yet are easy to lift. 9 plastic bags' worth of groceries goes into less than four of the kind I have.

[lonestarnot]

18. K & R

[hayu_lol]

20. 4 plastic bags...

with the handles taped together make a fine library book bag and lasts for months with weekly use.

[tavalon]

22. Thank you Mr. Butt,

both for helping out on Earth Day and for having the common sense not to directly name your store after yourself. Too bad Mr. Skaggs didn't have that kind of horse sense!

[EFerrari]

24. I designed one for our local mom n pop. Problem solved!

:)