Ok, good. That’s just about everyone.

Raise your hand if you try and reuse them for random things like other trash bags and carrying lunch to work?

Great! I think that’s still a good chunk of you.

Now, raise your hand if you still have all these bags and still don’t know what to do with them but refuse to throw them away?

Yup, that’s what I thought.

Well you’re in luck because this week I am going to explore a bit about what to do with all those plastic bags. I’ve already told you about Conserve, a wonderful company that employs rag pickers in India to pick up plastic bags and then uses the bags to create the most amazing purses and totes. I’ve always wondered how to make bags out of plastic and knew that it involved fusing plastic together, but that’s about it. So I started to do a bit of research into what it take to do it yourself.

From the looks of these three tutorials it seems pretty simple. All you really need to fuse plastic are your plethora of plastic bags, an iron, freezer paper, parchment paper or other scrap paper, and a well ventilated area.

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I apologise profusely for having brought that advert to an international audience, but I had to. It’s cathartic to share.

I shudder at the voice-over to such an extent that I need to lie down in a darkened room afterwards and gnaw at my knuckles. Hideous snobbery. What were the creatives thinking?

But to M&S. Or Marks and Spencer, to give them their full title, a clothing and food store from here in the UK who in an announcement to the press state:

“Marks & Spencer is to roll-out a 5p charge for food carrier bags in all of its UK stores from the beginning of May to encourage customers to reduce the number of bags they use and to raise money for environmental projects.”

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Here is something that might surprise you though: Singaporeans don’t recycle. Or if they do, it’s not as blatantly apparent as in the United States. Occasionally, you’ll see a receptacle on the street that is divvied up into plastics/metals, paper and waste, but for the most part, everything gets tossed into one big trash can. Trash shoots aren’t sorted into blue recyclables and black everything-else-goes here. I remember once during the summer, I was sorting trash while at work when my boss came up to me and asked what I was doing. Apparently it’s all just trash over there — nothing specific about it.

Lately, however, there has been a growing concern in the country, due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Over recent months, the government has been giving the country a massive developmental face lift, introducing towering high-rise apartments and chicly designed shopping plazas to rival those of Paris, Tokyo and New York City. There are more plans to introduce casinos (”integrated resorts”) and a Formula One race track — all for the sake of drawing more tourists to Singapore and boosting the country’s economy.

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The most popular and exclusive is the Anya Hindmarch "I'm not a plastic bag" which has become almost hysterically popular. Retailing for around $15, these rare items frequently go for $100-$200 on Ebay, sell out in a matter of hours in retail stores, and have people queuing up in line well before dawn. And with it's release in the US this month, one has to ask, "Why so popular?" Have so many people decided to end the plastic bag addiction? Unfortunately not. This bag is all brand and trend, which ultimately harms the concept because as the fad moves out of vogue so does the desire to end plastic bag consumption. While the message is important and bringing awareness to the issue is always positive, at what cost does this bag achieve these ends?

The bag is neither organic nor Fair Trade, and is produced in China. A spokeswoman for Sainsbury in England, the store which first carried the bags, claimed the factory "has been visited to ensure high standards of ethical trading," yet the company refuses to release the factory name so that these claims can be substantiated. Additionally, the cotton industry is one that frequently falls far short of ethical conduct and is commonly accused of utilizing child labor. A spokeswoman for Anya Hindmarch has responded that they never claimed this bag is perfect but rather are trying "to use our influence as a maker of luxury goods to make it fashionable not to use plastic bags." It is true that the company never sought to disguise the fact that the bag was made in China, nor that it was not Fair Trade nor organic. But why not? With the opportunity to effect change in so many people, both consumers and producers, why did the company not choose to source organic, Fair Trade cotton and labor?

As an alternative, check out ECOBAGS Fair Trade and recycled cotton bags or Make Trade Fair totes, which is more than a just a tongue in cheek slogan.

For tips on how remember to bring your new bag when shopping, check out Kicking the Plastic Bag Habit.

Such a move would usher in the use of eco-friendly alternatives; biodegradable plastic or recycled paper bags. The legislation (which still needs one more vote to pass) would take effect within six months for San Fran's 50 markets — and 12 months for big-chain drugstores like Rite-Aid.

This is a welcome move. Although only introduced to our shopping culture 25 years ago, the plastic bag has waged hell on our environment. Between 500 billion-1 trillion are used each year worldwide. The largest problem is that they are not biodegradable, only photodegradable. In other words, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces of the same material — but only if exposed to sunlight. Animals choke on them, sea life becomes entangled — in the ocean, it's been reported that there are two islands of plastic bags each the size of Texas. Yikes.

Each city bears the burden of not only the environmental impact, but also the disposal of plastic bags. San Francisco alone spends $8.5 million a year on disposal. So, the city (and the country) are ready for a change. The new alternatives, made from corn by-products, have markets in San Fran nervous over costs, durability, and quality. Like any shift, however, it's time to stop whining and move forward with the new rules. On the flip side, corn farmers have another potential windfall in their sights. San Francisco may only be the beginning of a massive national sweep. If more corn-based bags are needed, what will this do to the price of food? Agriculture experts are already concerned over ethanol's effect on production in the U.S.

If anything, the lesson here is try and bring your own reuseable bag to the grocery store when possible. While these latest shifts are encouraging, consuming less by reusing items should not be lost in our quest for a new grocery bag. For the sake of the environment, however, let's hope San Francisco's commitment inspires others to follow suit.