Retailers listen up - -Bag? Who needs a stinkin’ bag?

Bags. We get them at every store we go to. Heaps and heaps of bags.

It takes a lot of energy and resources to make a bag and each year across the globe an estimated 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are used according to www.reusablebags.com. Only a small fraction of plastic bags are recycled.

Plastic bags are made from ethylene, a petroleum byproduct. In the United  States, approximately 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make plastic bags that Americans consume.

You can imagine my happy surprise when I received this email from my friend and green enthusiast, Eileen Landau, the other day, “Yesterday I stopped at Borders. The cashier rang me up and put the receipt inside the book...then handed the book to me. I was stunned and asked her about bags. She said that the company decided several weeks ago to only use bags if the customer asked. Great. Less use of plastic! Might get more people to carry a reusable bag around with them. Like I only have five or so in the car at all times, right? It reminds me of shopping in England back in the '70's. You went from store to store and carried net bags to hold your food in.”

Today I tested it out – went to the nearest Borders to purchase a paperback and you can see above how they handed it to me – with the receipts tucked in the front cover. LOVE IT!

What a fantastic idea. Retailers heed the example of Border Books and stop handing out useless oil-based plastic bags. Make a difference for our world!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! http://www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Comments

[lunaticg]

Hi!
It will help them to lower their cost to.
See you around.

[Shawna Coronado]

I agree and have gotten such a strong email response to this, I've decided next week to run a blog on green and reusable shopping bags. Woot! Thanks!

[Laura]

yay. Hopefully that will gain ground...and also cause cashiers to stop looking at me disdainfully when I hand them my cloth bag to put stuff in. (I love that some places are giving out reusable bags with their logo on it, they get the marketing that used to come from the plastic bags/shopping bags, yet is a greener option...I'll happily market for them).