Reusable shopping bags: How much can you really save?
Posted by : Raj | Posted on : Monday, September 7, 2009
DELICIOUS
SU
REDDITWhen I look outside the window, I am amazed at how beautiful my neighborhood is. There is a park nearby where I can take my dog and daughter. A library that is a short walk from our home, and flowers in everyone’s yards. It seems everyone around me is trying to keep Mother Earth happy and content. Inside most homes, people are beginning new habits in attempts to save money and help the environment. My city gives us a garbage can outside for us to take our trash and also a blue recycling container for our paper, plastic, and aluminum. The three R’s of green life are reduce, reuse, and recycle. For me, that means refilling my plastic bottle of water to use all day, keeping lights turned off when not in use and recycling paper at my local recycling center.
It seems grocery stores have attempted to get on the green train by selling reusable shopping bags. Unfortunately, while it seems like the green thing to do, for them, the green is in the money you spend buying the bags while thinking you are helping the environment. While it does seem that plastic is everywhere, you can be more green by using a plastic shopping bag instead of the canvas bag they are selling.
Before you begin to think I am not an earth loving conserving American, I want you to think about the costs and hassles associated with canvas reusable shopping bags. On a typical grocery shopping day, I walk out with about 10 bags of groceries. And that is for my family of three. If I purchased enough bags for my groceries, I would need 15. At my grocery store, they are sold for $1.00. That may seem inexpensive, but there is another added expense when you use these bags. You come home from the grocery store with produce, eggs, meat, frozen goods, and pantry items, and realize your canvas bags are wet, dirty, or covered with leaky meat juice. That means you will need to wash and dry your bags every time you use them. That means more laundry which then leads to using more energy and water to help our environment. Instead of using canvas bags for groceries, use those bags for books from the library, taking toys to the park, or shopping for clothes.
One more reason not to use reusable shopping bags for your groceries, what is the company doing for you? I have never been to a grocery store that had a sign posted with “don’t need our bags, here’s x amount of dollars off your groceries.” Unless they are going to charge you for bags, which some groceries do, don’t bother buying the canvas bags at the check out.
And if you’re still not convinced, you should know that plastic bags are almost always recyclable, so all you have to do is gather a bunch of the plastic bags and make a trip to the local recycling plant. You won’t be saving money per say, but you may actually be doing more of a service to the environment this way than with the reusable bags.
My advice, for what it’s worth, use the plastic grocery bags, but more than once. I use my plastic grocery bags to line small rubbish cans in my house, to pick up my dog’s droppings, to wrap my daughter’s less than stellar smelling diapers, to bring in lunch and at the grocery store where they charge you for it. I do love the environment; but, plastic bags are still my friend (unlike standard light bulbs).
I think the financial benefit of taking reusable shopping bags with you is when the store gives you a discount for bringing your own or, in the case of IKEA, doesn’t charge you to take one of their bags. I did a blog posting last spring on this topic, which I thought you might like to read:
http://suddenlyfrugal.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/reusable-shopping-bag-savings-going-down-the-drain/
Thanks. Great post.
Leah
Leah Ingram´s last blog ..Freebie Friday (September 4-10, 2009)
Here’s what you need to do. Go to a blogging conference (sponsored, of course, so you’re not paying). You will come home with more than enough free reusable shopping bags to meet your needs.
Then when your shopping, make sure you ask for the discount for using your own bags. Most grocery stores in my area take 5-6 cents off for every bag. But they don’t advertise this fact, so you have to ask.
I love my reusable bags. I would even love them if I had to pay for them. They hold much more than plastic, which makes it convenient when I’m unloading the groceries from my car.
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I use reusable at certain stores. Trader Joe’s for one, since they give me raffle tickets to win a gift basket for reusing bags, Whole foods is another since they charge for bags, and Costco since they don’t have bags.
But I shamelessly use plastic at grocery chains since we use them for cleaning up dog poop, and emptying the litter boxes (no more stinky diapers here-YAY!).
I have only paid for one of my reusable bags (an insulated cooler bag), the rest I got for free from various events, stores, etc. If you keep your eye out you may find some free ones, and then it might be worth it!
Kelly´s last blog ..Festival of Frugality: 1st hosting gig!
I hear you. But we shop at Whole Foods where they give you 10 cents back for each bag you bring in to use. It’s not a lot but it’s something. And their bags are sturdy for .99 cents! Much better than having to double the cheap plastic bags that most supermarkets give. And what we do is we keep the bags in our car for other uses. When we go the BJ’s to shop, well you know they don’t give bags at all there, so we use the bags to carry our stuff back. We’ve also used our bags to go to the beach. One r two bags and we have all of our towels and beach stuff ready to go.
There are times when the bags you buy may not be worth it but I think it depends on where you shop and if you actually use the bags.
FFB´s last blog ..My Experience With myFICO
I have quite a collection of reusable shopping bags, all obtained free. In April, home of Earth Day, many stores had free bag offers – Staples, Target, WholeFoods, Wegmans, CVS, Walgreens, etc. And from time to time, my supermarket hands me a register print-out for a free bag.
I use the plastic shopping bags for garbage (I’m one person, so one small can). I put non-messy groceries in the reusables and take the milk, ice cream, chicken, etc. in plastic bags, knowing I’ll use them again no matter how cruddy they get.
Also, my supermarket takes a nickel off for each bag I use, each time I use it…so even if I’d paid for it, I’d break even in 20 uses.
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Trader Joe’s reusable bags are awesome. They are plastic lined for easy cleaning and fit three times more stuff than a plastic bag. I can fit all my family’s groceries (I cook from scratch for breakfast, lunch & dinner) in two bags. Plus, my grocery store offers four cents per bag off your total.
Sorry, but reusable bags are the way to go. You just have to be smart about which ones you choose.
I have to agree with Jenn, though there isn’t a Trader Joe’s here. There are some facts you left out. We all complain about how expensive gas is, yet we don’t do much to reduce our use of oil based products. Plastic bags are 50% oil. We use 200 billion barrels of oil every year to make plastic bags. Think about it, if we could reduce that use, gas prices could go don because there was less demand. As for recycling, we use as much oil to recycle the bags as we do to make them in the first place, so that isn’t a help there.
Canvas bags are the way to go, and you would be the first person that I have heard of that washed there canvass bags after every shopping trip. Sorry, but if the meat is bagged properly it won’t leak most of the time. Although I have seen some people, have specific canvass bags for their meat.
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@Leah Different stores have different promotions or discounts so depends on the area, but they do. Depends on the person if the minor discount is worth it. I read your post, good job on it.
@Lynnae That’s a good tip. A lot of supermarkets take other stores coupons, why not try with other reusable bags? Never hurts to ask and could save a few cents.
@Kelly Usually the more upscale supermarkets have different promotions, it’s nice to hear they have raffles. I always use plastic bags as well at the local supermarket but try to save as many as I can because I also use them around the apartment.
@FFB I agree that the bags have more value for other purposes like BJ’s and the beach as you mentioned. The few cents you save is probably not the main reason for using them.
@MoneyMateKate I like your duo system of using both reusable for some and plastic for others. I usually prefer just plastic myself, the few cents off each grocery trip is not a big incentive for me and I use the plastic bags around the apartment and to hold clothes for the gym.
@Jenn Trader Joe’s does have better bags than most other stores. The local supermarket does not have the same quality of bags as them though. the incentives of saving a few cents is different for different people. I’m glad to hear you enjoy the bags, I’m not convinced right now to switch.
@Prince of Thrift Reusable bags may carry some weight with the environment, but I don’t think you can look at it on such a grand scale to the point of using them will help lower gas prices. I don’t think it will. It’s the same theory as oil use is much higher because of raising cattle for food, so the theory is less hamburgers, less oil use.
Thx for good information!! Good work !!
@Kalliyan Thanks for stopping by.
Craig-
Here’s a short article on the plastic dilemma you may not have seen yet:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/index.html
@Norm Thanks for the article, very eye opening.
What if everyone that shopped at a market used a reusable bag? What if everyone walked to work? What if nobody littered and nobody dumped toxic waste and everybody cared enough to do something? It’s alot of what ifs that could essentially altogether make the world a better place, but here at Simply Green Solutions, we think its important for people to practice leaving less of a carbon footprint, because one is better than none. The more it happens, the less waste occurs, and better habits are formed. You have made your choice and it is perfectly okay, and for others, their choice is their own, their right, and is ultimately the right thing to do.
@simply Agree it is a lot of “what ifs” and hard to judge on individual basis how things could potentially be affected. Can reusable bags help? Maybe to a degree, no one really knows. A lot is really the preference of the person.
Actually, Craig, I’m @leangreenmom on Twitter!
Leah
Leah Ingram´s last blog ..I Met the Lazy Environmentalist
I understand that you use a lot of bags each time you go to the store. It seems as if you are being responsible and reusing them. However, many people do not, and that is where the problem arises. As I drive around our neighborhood, I see bags in trees, and in the gutter. Many people just don’t care. Many cloth bags hold much more than a plastic bag, and in the long run you could cut down on the amount for trips it takes to get the groceries in the house. If you bag your own, which I do because the baggers just don’t understand you can put more than two things per bag. You can separate your drippy meat items, and then just throw the ONE bag that is messy in with the laundry you were going to do anyway. It is just me though. I make my own bags, and take them to the store. Usually I only have 4 bags full, but that beats having the plastic bags stack up. Ultimately you have to do what is comfortable for you and your family.
threadbeaur´s last blog ..Wine Time
@Threadbeaur Everyone has different comfort levels and different views on the “green” level of this. In the end its whatever works best for you.
That’s an interesting gem of information about getting a grocery-store discount for re-using bags. I also re-use them…the long thin ones that come on the newspaper, BTW, make perfect doggy pick-ups; my pooch uses between one and three on every stroll through the neighborhood.
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Many grocery bags nowadays ARE biodegradable, although they look like plastic. Here’s a nifty way to convert these grocery bags into trash bags. It’s easy to do, convenient and earth-friendly.
blackdove´s last blog ..Free Trash Bags
I am late but people like target advertise that they give 5 cents off each reusable bag you bring in! Also on days like today (earth week) they give out free reusable bags and also i received one during black Friday.
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I just did an analysis of this on my own blog and found that bringing reusable bags (and other containers) for my groceries saves me $25 a year. That’s for my family of two; you would probably save more. I do have a couple that I’ve paid for (including one little folding tote that fits in my purse, so I’m never caught without a bag), but I also have tons of tote bags I’ve received from causes I’ve given money to. So I could easily take a bag on every trip without paying a cent.
I’m guessing that your analysis of your own costs is probably off. You may need 10 of the plastic bags per trip, but the reusable ones hold more, so you wouldn’t need more than 7 or 8 of them. And as others have observed, your meat and other products shouldn’t leak if they are properly wrapped. If you’re worried about it, take a plastic bag just for the meat and use the reusable bags for the other stuff. Or use a reusable bag that’s made of plastic or lined with plastic–if there’s a spill, all you have to do is wipe it clean.
If you really prefer to take the plastic bags because they have so many uses, fine. Just don’t delude yourself into thinking you *aren’t* harming the earth, or costing yourself money, by using them.
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