This is the bag I'll be carrying the next time I travel through US airports. I also sent one to my daughter.
Wherever I go, I carry Cath Kidston oilcloth bags or canvas book bags for groceries and shopping purchases. As they are stronger than paper or plastic bags, there's no worry about the bags breaking and purchases rolling across the sidewalk or the Paris Metro floor.
Beginning May 6, the UK-based Marks & Spencer will charge food customers five pence per plastic bag. The company hopes declining usage of plastic bags will aid the environment. M&S will spend proceeds from the 5p bag charge for helping improve parks and play areas across the country. During the month of April, M&S stores will give their customers free canvas bags.
San Francisco supermarkets have stopped using plastic bags. Do your local stores offer alternatives to plastic bags? Check out Danny Seo's website for daily tips about living "green."
The Independent in London has an interesting story about jeans and garments produced for companies like H&M, the Gap and Wal-Mart. Read Fred Pearce's excerpt from his book Confessions of an Eco Sinner – Travels to Find Where My Stuff Comes From, published by Eden Project Books.
I have been contemplating this bag - and have to admit that I actually would be uncomfortable with using it going through airport security. Isn't that sad? But I have no doubt that some lout would seize the chance put me on some terrorist list or something just because I made a statement by citing the US constitution.
There is something really wrong with the world, the US, etc if a bag can cause this level of emotional response.
Ugh!
Posted by: lacithecat | 01 March 2008 at 11:43
It is absolutely horrible in TN. I was absolutely horrified when I first moved here to find that everyone uses styrofoam as if it were the greatest thing on earth. I thought that stuff was banned years ago! Eeeeek! I don't think they will be banning plastic bags anytime soon. I recycle mine over and over and over again. xo
Posted by: Rosa | 01 March 2008 at 06:56
My kids complain when I forget to take the reusable bags inside the store and make them go and fetch them from the car. But the exercise doesn't hurt them!
Posted by: Laura Benedict | 01 March 2008 at 04:39
not in this part of the US, but I hope it will start soon...
Posted by: UL | 29 February 2008 at 17:49
Our local grocery store is inching towards "pale green". Canvas bags for sale are prominently displayed near the checkout lanes, and anyone reusing their paper bags receive a credit of 5¢/bag on their grocery bill. I've loaded the paper and canvas bags in my car--now if I could just remember to faithfully carry them into the store with me!
Posted by: RD | 29 February 2008 at 14:56
This is happening all over the UK. I have to keep remembering to take bags out with me.
I dutifully use my plastic bags in the small Vip bin I have in my tiny cottage so when they stop all together I will have to buy bin liners then I will be back to square one. As they say - it's not easy being green
Posted by: Di Overton | 29 February 2008 at 09:46
Hmm..I miss UK, and bonjour!
Posted by: michelle | 29 February 2008 at 09:05
Our local supermarkets here were VERY slow to stop plastic bags. FINALLY all of them (but one!) have adopted the same system: you buy one bag that can be recycled (only a few cents) and when it's too old you can bring it back and exchange it for a new one - for free.
Unfortunately all shops (clothes, gifts, shoes,...) still give plastic bags away ...
Of course, this makes people much slower to get rid of their bad habits !!!
Posted by: M-Noëlle | 29 February 2008 at 08:26
We have payed for plastic bags in stores here for many years. It doesn't seem to help and reduction in their use though.
I have a wide collection of canvas totes and always bring several when I shop - better to use, and to help save our planet.
Posted by: Britt-Arnhild in Norway | 29 February 2008 at 07:54
What a great bag! And a good reminder for the people who seem to have forgotten the basics.
On the front seat of my car there are three (three!) canvas bags that I fully intend to use at the grocery store each time I shop. They actually make it into the store one time in five or six. It's a surprisingly difficult habit to develop. Someday it will become second nature.
Posted by: deirdre | 29 February 2008 at 01:15
In Ireland there has been a bag tax for a couple of years now - I think it's 15 cents! It definitely encourages you to reuse. All clothing shops use paper bags now as well as some niche food shops. Supermarkets will give you the old plastic bags for 15 cents but many sell tougher, reusable plastic bags for around 70c or canvas for a little more.
Posted by: Passementerie | 29 February 2008 at 00:59
I'm getting one of those bags for my next visit to the States (in June).
I don't use plastic bags and instead have a random collection of "shopping bags" that hang on the kitchen door right next to my housemates collection of vintage aprons. Old skool. Love it.
Thanks for your visit! I've been lurking here while I figured out how to blog again. x
Posted by: Frida | 29 February 2008 at 00:14
There was a story in the New York Times recently, about how the Irish banned plastic bags. Seems to work well there.
Here in Vienna, stores have been charging for paper and plastic bags for some years, at about 15c apiece. From what I observe, everybody seems to have a good supply of canvas bags anyway.
Posted by: Vienna for Beginners | 28 February 2008 at 22:49
Very interesting! I was at a fundraiser over the weekend and one of the items on the silent auction was a reuseable shopping bag KNIT from plastic bags. They really didn't look like plastic bags and I thought, well, at least that's a good use for them (along with lining the trash bucket!). I love the bag you photographed (and for that matter, Cath K.!)
Posted by: Jeanie | 28 February 2008 at 22:21
They are stronger in more ways than one!!
xox
Constance
Posted by: rochambeau | 28 February 2008 at 19:47
indeed most Aussie shops offer and encourage cloth bags - some stores do not give out any bags at all any more which can be a pain sometimes especially if no alternative is offered. But Aussies are very good with theor recycling.
Posted by: judy wilkenfeld | 28 February 2008 at 19:34
I really AM getting paranoid. The first thing I thought when I read that you're carrying that bag through US customs was, "well... I hope she doesn't get detained..." Isn't that sad?
Thanks for the links. I will certainly read them. I need more consciousness raising as a consumer. I used to be a horrible shop-a-holic but I can feel myself really pulling back... buying less... and recycling more.
Kim
Posted by: kim | 28 February 2008 at 17:38
I so love thisTara. I have begun carrying only bags that I can reuse when shopping. It stuns me at times that the question paper or plastic is still uttered. Cannot wait until May!
XOX
Kristen
Posted by: kristen robinson | 28 February 2008 at 17:36
Really interesting article, Tara. Thanks for directing me to it. It's a complex world, isn't it? We've recently had H&M added to our retail mix in the Vancouver (Canada) area, and I went with my daughter, my sister, and my niece out to the suburban mall that houses the store. I found it so disheartening to see folks lined up 20 deep waiting for a change room to try on clothes they really don't need terribly much and that aren't very well made but that are cheap -- and doing this on a Sunday afternoon (as was I, sadly, as was I!), a time once reserved for family and leisure. To be fair and honest, I admit that aspects of the H&M model appeal to me and I have bought a few things in the Paris store. Still, our move to the cheap and disposable is costing us all in so many ways. Whoops! got carried away there -- thanks for making me think.
Posted by: materfamilias | 28 February 2008 at 16:24
Love the bag in the photo. Tres chic.
Around here Kroger sells reusable bags in a lovely shade of medium blue that never gets lost in the backseat of my car. We have three (one of which is insulated for cold/frozen purchases) and use them all the time.
The only problem I've run into with the bags is that the young males who bag my groceries seem to take the bags as a personal challenge. These kids force all of my groceries into one bag instead of using the two or three bags that I have with me. To them it is a game and they always look so pleased with what they've done that I can't seem to bring myself to stop them from doing it. Women and older male baggers don't do this, only the cute (bored) young guys. Oh well...
Posted by: ally bean | 28 February 2008 at 15:49
I saw that story about M&S earlier, didn't realise they'd be giving away canvas bags. A lot of the other big grocery stores in the UK charge a small fee for a "bag for life" and give you extra clubcard points for using your own bag, but still give away plastic bags free of charge. I actually think taking the plastic bags away altogether is a better idea, that way people are forced to use an alternative. But food at M&S is so expensive anyway, that if you're shopping there you probably won't notice an extra 5p.
Posted by: Kamsin | 28 February 2008 at 15:15
this bag is brilliant - thank you for the link.
Posted by: kristen | 28 February 2008 at 15:06