Green Options

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My Bag and Me!, written by Karen Farmer and illustrated by Gary Currant, is a cute rhyming board book about the benefits of using reusable shopping bags. The little boy in the story has his own shopping bag he takes to the store. He also reminds his mother to do the same.

Then it’s off to the checkout where we’ve all been before. I hand over My Bag and say, “Paper and plastic no more!” We feel really good when our shopping is done. We’ve saved so many bags by using this one!

My Bag and Me! comes with a reusable, small shopping bag. My only criticism is that the bag is made from Tyvek, a Dupont product. Dupont doesn’t exactly have a clean environmental record, and Tyvek is not as long lasting or washable as a cloth shopping bag. Furthermore, the bag and book both claim to be 100% recyclable, although I’ve never seen Tyvek accepted at a recycling center, and neither bag nor book are made from post consumer content.

500 billion paper and plastic bags are used each year globally! These “free” bags actually cost $4 billion dollars a year, and thus consumers pay the price for them in other ways. It is also staggering to consider that it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, and we have all seen the litter they create.

Over the next few months, Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. plans to phase out its non-recyclable shopping bags in favor of paper bags with recyclable cotton handles.

The switch is expected to take place between April and September, as the retailer runs out of supplies of its current propylene-handled shopping bags.

On March 27th 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the US to ban plastic bags in major supermarkets and pharmacies. Only biodegradable plastic and recyclable paper are allowed. Whole Foods recently announced that by April of this year it would end the use of plastic bags in all of its 270 stores in the US, Canada and the UK.

New York and New Jersey require retailers that use plastic bags to offer a recycling program, the city of Oakland, California, is considering a ban, and China announced a countrywide free plastic bag prohibition in January. Ireland took the lead in Europe, taxing plastic bags in 2002. Customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. The Irish government says the tax cut the use of disposable bags by 90 percent! The tax also raised millions of dollars in revenue.

Want to get in on the latest trend? Then start saying no to the plastic bag. Don’t think you can? Here are a few tips on how to turn down the plastic bag at the register.

Bring your own. It makes it easier to say no to the bag when you have another to put things in. A small canvas bag works for most on

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In grocery stores all over the world, you'll find all types of people bringing their own reusable bags. Canvas bags printed with company names are the most common, but are there other options? Started in Australia by husband-and-wife team Belinda and Mark David-Tooze, Envirosax offer lightweight, compact, durable totes with unique, expressive designs. "Envirosax believes in environmental sustainability. Plastic bags clog drains and cause flooding. They pollute rivers and streams, killing

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