I’m not certain that the plastic replacements for single use plastic bags are all they’re cracked up to be. But it’s good to move in the direction of eliminating this source of long term pollution.
For me, the 10¢ plastic bags are much thicker plastic: convenient for me, worse for the environment. Historically I tried to reuse grocery bags for trash but they long since got too cheap for that, but now I don’t want to spend the 10¢. It would be good to know what the payback threshold is: how many times do I need to reuse them before it was a good tradeoff.
It’s probably disgusting that I never clean them: if they get a spill just throw them out. My replacement rate is governed by my mistake: did I remember to bring them? Did I accidentally recycle them?
Reusable cloth bags seem like the thing to do but I have no idea how to find them. Everything online is made of “nonwoven material” which has got to be a euphemism for plastic
We get “cloth” bags made of plastic that’s ostensibly recycled. They’ll last for quite a long time.
Stores hand them out for a small fee if you forget your bags. But now I’ve got approaching a hundred because I’m terrible at remembering bags and I don’t have options when I get to the till. So they’re really disposable to me because I just have too many.
Not cleaning them definitely is a problem; I wash them occasionally but it’s kinda gross to think about. Some have a base in them that needs to be taken out and that makes it even less frequent that they are washed. As they’re used and when they’re washed they shed microplastics.
I’d like paper better, if I knew with certainty that the forest that was harvested to create, the pulp was actually intended for pulp, instead of being some old growth forest that a forestry company has green washed. Then, there’s a fair bit of nasty chemicals, involved in the paper making process.
I have a few cotton bags, which are fantastic, because they are easily washed, hold a great deal of weight, and definitely last longer than the plastic versions.
I’m not certain that the plastic replacements for single use plastic bags are all they’re cracked up to be. But it’s good to move in the direction of eliminating this source of long term pollution.
For me, the 10¢ plastic bags are much thicker plastic: convenient for me, worse for the environment. Historically I tried to reuse grocery bags for trash but they long since got too cheap for that, but now I don’t want to spend the 10¢. It would be good to know what the payback threshold is: how many times do I need to reuse them before it was a good tradeoff.
It’s probably disgusting that I never clean them: if they get a spill just throw them out. My replacement rate is governed by my mistake: did I remember to bring them? Did I accidentally recycle them?
Reusable cloth bags seem like the thing to do but I have no idea how to find them. Everything online is made of “nonwoven material” which has got to be a euphemism for plastic
We get “cloth” bags made of plastic that’s ostensibly recycled. They’ll last for quite a long time.
Stores hand them out for a small fee if you forget your bags. But now I’ve got approaching a hundred because I’m terrible at remembering bags and I don’t have options when I get to the till. So they’re really disposable to me because I just have too many.
Not cleaning them definitely is a problem; I wash them occasionally but it’s kinda gross to think about. Some have a base in them that needs to be taken out and that makes it even less frequent that they are washed. As they’re used and when they’re washed they shed microplastics.
I’d like paper better, if I knew with certainty that the forest that was harvested to create, the pulp was actually intended for pulp, instead of being some old growth forest that a forestry company has green washed. Then, there’s a fair bit of nasty chemicals, involved in the paper making process.
I have a few cotton bags, which are fantastic, because they are easily washed, hold a great deal of weight, and definitely last longer than the plastic versions.
Is that a glass pun?