There is a lot of buzz lately about reusable shopping bags and there is so much information out there about the topic that it’s difficult for your average busy shopper to sift through. So here is a condensed article on why, and also how, to use reusable bags when you shop.

Environmental Impact of Disposable Bags

American shoppers use an estimated 100 billion bags every year one fifth of the estimated 500 billion used annually worldwide (almost 1 million per minute!). At the most, 3% of these bags are likely to be recycled.

Plastic bags have several environmental effects throughout their lifecycle. From the greenhouse gas emissions from the processes of extracting and refining the petroleum to make the plastic to the energy it takes to transport millions of them to markets around the world, plastic bags cause nothing but harm to the environment. Then of course after their use they are thrown away and become unsightly litter, clog gutter and sewer grates and cause flooding. They also contribute to the deaths of many animals, especially in the ocean, when the animals become entangled in the plastic or mistake it for food. The California Coastal Commission estimates that 60-80% of all marine debris is plastic, the bags making us a portion of this. Since plastic doesn’t readily break down a researcher has estimated that there is a floating mass of plastic and polystyrene foam in the northern Pacific Ocean that is roughly the size of Texas. That’s scary!

Are Paper Bags Better?

While paper degrades much faster than plastic, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a paper bag takes about a month vs. 1,000 years for a plastic bag! And paper bags are easier to recycle in many locations, there are still drawbacks. Recycling paper requires much more energy than recycling plastic, as does transporting the heavier paper bags. Also, according to the EPA, it takes 40% more energy to manufacture paper bags than it does plastic ones which releases much more water pollution and greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. So if you think that you’re doing the environment a favor by using paper bags, think again! The only bags that really help are those that are reused instead of thrown away after a single use.

Why Reusable Bags May End Up Being Better for Your Wallet

Due to the detrimental effects of disposable bags to the environment, and the reluctance of a majority of the public to jump on the reusable bag bandwagon, some U.S. cities see fit to try to deter the use of disposable bags the only way they know how, taxing!

In 2002, Ireland introduced a tax on plastic grocery bags (the PlasTax) and in one year it reduced the consumption of the bags (1.2 billion or 316 per person) by 90%. With this kind of statistic it’s no wonder why many U.S. cities are trying to follow suit.

Some cities that have proposed a bag tax so far:

Seattle WA, 20 cents per bag

Aurora CO, 12 cents per bag

Washington DC, 5 cents per bag

Baltimore MD, 25 cents per bag

California (statewide), 25 cents per bag; set to begin January 1, 2010

If these taxes passed and your family purchased 12 bags of groceries per week, the bags would end up costing between $31.20 and $156.00! Surely no one would say that the reusable bags wouldn’t pay for themselves.

These proposals in these cities have not been approved as law yet, but one can definitely see that this is a trend that will only spread throughout the country. Many of the governing bodies that have proposed these taxes have also proposed help for low income citizens such as free or subsidized reusable bags.

Smart Reusable Bag Use

A microbiological study has found that reusable shopping bags may become contaminated with bacteria, yeast and mold, which could compromise your health. So here are some tips for staying clean and healthy while being environmentally conscious:

• Always clean your bags and hang them to dry after every use
• Let your reusable shopping bags air out. When you fold them up, although it saves space, it gives bacteria a nice place to incubate
• Separate meats in first-use bag to keep from leaking into the reusable OR
• Designate and use specific reusable bags for the different types of food you purchase (meat, produce, dry goods)
• Don’t use your reusable grocery bags for other purposes. Carrying things like diapers and your gym shoes in them could contaminate the bags and any food that is later used in them

Other Benefits

By using reusable shopping bags you are helping the environment and may eventually save money by dodging a bag tax that may come to your town. There are other benefits to using eco-friendly bags, for instance they can carry at least twice as much as most shopping bags and are easier to carry, typically having long, soft, fabric handles that are easy on the hands and are easy to put over your shoulder, leaving your hands free for other things such as holding your child’s hand as you walk through the busy parking lot.