Bring the Groceries to the Bag
I decided to start slowly and just try to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Using a canvas shopping bag is Green 101, after all.
My son was home sick with a cold and requested that I stop at the store for orange juice and apples. Standing in front of the apples, about to grab a plastic bag, I realized that I left my canvas shopping bag in the car AGAIN. I was talking to a friend about addiction the other day. Apparently a conversion, similar to a religious conversion is required to break an addiction. Well, my epiphany has not come yet, so I am relying somewhat feebly on my intellect to help me make the change.
So there I am in front of the apple display- I decided just to put the apples directly into my basket without a plastic bag. I don’t even know why I need a plastic bag for apples. Because my mother always did it? Because that is just the way it is done? I can understand wanting your veggies in plastic bags, otherwise they get limp in the fridge. (Note to self to check alternatives to that one! Almost Vegetarian has a good idea for glass containers.) I can’t think of any good reason to keep apples in a plastic bag. Didn’t people in the old days keep apples in their cellars or something?
My friend Terry told me the other day that when he forgets his reusable bags he just wheels the cart out to his car- sans bags. Great idea! That is what I did. Now I aways say, “If you can’t bring the bag to the groceries, bring the groceries to the bag.”
Then, of course, I had to bring the basket back into the food store, which is the same round trip distance had I just returned to the car for my bags in the first place. But wait! There is a point. I was not backtracking, which is important. There is also an important new idea evolving from this. If you have ever (and I know you have) carried multiple bags (paper, plastic, canvas- whatever) into your house from your car, you know that it is a pain. I always try to carry too much, two bags in my arms, one hanging off my pinky finger, cutting off my blood flow. How about an easy to carry, sturdy, re-usable box that I keep in my car? Taking a clue from Costo-they never ask paper or plastic- it is box or nothing.
Tags: andrea dean, eco, green, Green Business, green living, hawaii, sustainability
July 15th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
While i sympathize as usual with the shopping predicament, this stopped me in my tracks:
“…requested that I stop at the store for orange juice and apples.”
The nearest apple is grown thousands of miles away, and although we can grow pleny oranges here, i don’t know of any store that sells local OJ. The carbon footprint of these is so much larger than the choice of bag, it’s not even funny. Any decision to get more ‘eco’ involves first cutting apples out of the diet and sourcing local oranges!! Much later, you could consider tiny details like what kind of bag to transport them home in.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
As you know Ben, I am a local foods advocate and buy and eat as much local food as possible. While I have gone for long stretches eating ONLY local foods, I have found it to be very difficult to “stay pure” and eat only 100% locally grown foods all the time. When I add the food preferences and demands of the other people in my family it gets even more difficult. Sometimes I do pick and squeeze my own OJ (the best!). And I have traveled up Mauna Kea for local apples. You are right about the food miles inherent in non-local produce, but I must say that food miles inherent in processed foods and multi-item processed foods is even more.