Bring Your Own Bag

The hack

I used to have a plastic bag at home, containing… even more plastic bags. Do you recognise this? Although it is cheerful that supermarkets are reconsidering their strategy when it comes to plastic bags, the amount of bags for one time use is still outrageous. Of course shops have interest in creating opportunity for people to leave with more than expected. And it is simply contributing to your convenience if you can buy a plastic shopper at the counter. Here is a trick to start resisting the offer: Bring Your Own Bag.

Why it is green

Plastics are really hard to ban from our lives. From our world, actually. Plastics are not made of natural materials so nature has no straightforward way to break it down. As a matter of fact, plastic materials are specifically great for durable products. For products that should never break down. So why are we using it for one time purposes? Is it a design mistake, one that has slowly grown in to our perception of what is normal?

American numbers tell us that the average time a plastic carrier bag is used is no more than 12 minutes. Additionally, on average we only recycle one out of 200 bags that we use. As a result, the estimations say that between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are yearly consumed worldwide. Most of them ending up in landfills, litter, our oceans. With your reduction of plastic carrier bags, you are instantly reducing the footprint of both the needless production and the waste.

Impact & Easiness

The amount of plastic bags used per person in Germany is estimated to be on average 76 per year per person. Can you imagine the total environmental damage, with over 80 million inhabitants? That’s over 6 billion plastic bags wasted per year on a country level. You can have an instant positive impact on the environment, by just having one reusable shopping bag.

All it requires is a very small investment (find great options here) and this will be as easy as bringing your phone and wallet to places. Just one more item in your normal bag, and a guaranteed instant satisfaction at the counter.

Just some tips: The bag needs to be foldable and lightweight. You will only bring it always and everywhere if it is no effort at all. Get one that you truly like to be seen with. If the shopper matches your identity and style you will find it easier to use it on a daily basis.

Sustainability Score

Impact:     ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Easiness:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Which shopping bag do you bring to the supermarket? Do you have any experience while purchasing other items, such as clothes and household items?

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