Thursday, January 17, 2008

Baby Steps


In line with my New Year's Resolution to be more environmentally conscious, I bought a couple of reusable bags from Publix. I figured with these and maybe one or two more we can do most of our grocery shopping without plastic bags. Fermicat brought up the common cat owner conundrum. Aren't those plastic bags good for the litter box? (That's what Wrigley seems to be thinking!) We have so many right now that even cutting back by 60-75% we'll have more than enough to last us until we move. And there is no way I'm packing plastic bags and moving them to our next destination. So getting these reusable ones seems like the best option for now. When we move, we'll have to replenish our stockpile.

10 comments:

fermicat said...

Let us know how they work out! Maybe the cashiers won't give you a weird look because the bags you are bringing have the store logo on them...

Dianne said...

that's a great idea magnetbabe

and those cloth bags are so much more comfortable to carry. the platic bags are best suited for a box of (very light) tissues.

love the nosy cat checking out the bags :)

dr sardonicus said...

Our cats were notorious diggers, especially our male, and they would shred anything we'd try to use as a cat box liner.

Maybe cloth bags will catch on - in Europe everybody brings their own. With the environment, every little bit helps.

Anonymous said...

In our house we have a two bag policy. I have a huge navy blue bag that conspicuously urges people to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (Gandhi). I got Chris the plain brown bag version which he is more comfortable using. I used to see cloth bags only at coops and natural food stores. Now they are sprouting up everywhere (Rainbow, Cub) No one bats an eye. Hell, you bag your own groceries anyway... So you don't have to make that pesky paper or plastic decision ever again. Thanks to my packrat tendencies, we have a healthy stash of plastic bags ready for Sauvy.

Natalie said...

fermi-
That's part of the weird underlying politics. My mom has had to get like 4 or 5 different sets of these things to appease the stores. Last time I was at Publix there were a number of people with them.

dianne-
I agree. The plastic ones dig into the fingers pretty bad. And that's Wrigley, the nosy one. ;)

dr. s-
We don't use cat box liners. I think now days most people use clumping litter which really reduces odor, but with three we scoop the boxes every day which means one bag/day. And I just heard a story about plastic bags in Europe. They're becoming really taboo. I'll think they'll catch on here too, I'm suddenly seeing a lot of them.

gabrielle-
That's my favorite Ghandi quote after the animal one I use as my email signature. Here in the South the cashiers still bag all our groceries. It's a blessing and a curse. If you need to bring some of our plastic ones back up with you, you are more than welcome. ;)

anne said...

this is such a debate we have going at our house. we use the publix plastic bags to pick up ginger's "stuff" when we walk her. do we get the cloth bags and then buy the smaller-made for poop specific bags? and do they make bio-degradable ones?

Natalie said...

anne-
Do you still use plastic bags for your produce? I find it keeps the produce much fresher, so I haven't stopped using them, but have then been using those in the cat box. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell you. If you buy poop specific ones, they are only being used once. At least with plastic grocery bags they are used twice. I wish I had a resource to give you for some answers.

Scott said...

I'll have to pass that on to my wife, who was very impressed when I told her about your parents, and that link you provided for finding companies that are environmentally conscious.

Sunshine said...

I got several of these when they started carrying them at my grocery store too and I love them! And if they have reusable bags easily available in the middle of BFE where I live, nobody anywhere has any excuse not to use them - seriously!

Jackie said...

I buy the bio-degradable poop bags for Ruby and use those when I take her for walks. True they are only being used once, but at least they aren't filling up the land fills, for as long anyway.