Unfortunately my knitting project to create some reusable bags out of our old plastic ones is moving along a bit slowly. Luckily ChicoBags had a stall set up in Chicago, so we headed over and grabbed some. I have no idea how I missed these great bags in the reusable round-up last month.

The Chicobag holds 20 lbs, and trust me I put this to the test last weekend. The handles are thick enough that carrying heavy loads doesn’t hurt, and they are long enough that the bag can easily be thrown over your shoulder. It measures 18″ x 13″, but the best feature is the built in pouch! Each bag stuffs into the attached pouch, measuring only 4″ x 2 ½” x 1″. It comes with a small carabineer, so hooking it to a book bag or keychain is easy, and the suckers small enough it even fits in my stylin sari purse. If it gets dirty just throw it in the washing machine, and it comes with a 1 year warranty.

We all know reusable bags are the way to go, but the key to success is remembering to bring the dang things. Luckily Chicobags are small enough they’re easy to have on you so they’re easy to remember. They are made in China by “a fair labor, fair wage manufacturing company” and run only $5. Old Chicobags can be sent back to be recycled into door mats, dog beds and prayer flags. A great option on your reusable quest!

Gerry brought up an important question in the plastic debate which deserves a follow-up.

Gerry Keane says:
I have just stopped using plastic grocery bags. My problem is that they are very handy for kitchen garbage. I live in an apartment and am unsure what to use in their place. I don’t want to start buying more plastic “Kitchen Catchers.”

Any suggestions?

Thanks…
Gerry

Thanks for the question Gerry! It is neither a simple nor easy one, but here’s some ideas. As Brady suggested not using any garbage bags is great if allowed in your city, however many places forbid loose trash.

There are biodegradable bags available, but the conditions in landfills prohibit them from disintegrating. Actually, landfill conditions prohibit even natural garbage, such as apple cores or banana peals, from degrading in natural ways. No Impact Man and garbage.

The problem is the design of the modern landfill (which you can read about in Elizabeth Royte’s fascinating Garbage Land). The landfill is not designed to help things to biodegrade, which requires contact with air and water. Instead, landfills hermetically seal their contents away from the environment to protect it from the toxic things in the landfill that aren’t biodegradable (of course, the seal breaks down in 70 years and leaves a toxic mess for our grandchildren to deal with, but that’s another story).

What this means, is that organic things like apple cores and yesterdays newspapers and cornstarch cups, when dumped in the landfill, either don’t break down at all—and certainly don’t end up returning nutrients to the earth—or they break down anaerobically, which means they produce methane, a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

So ultimately any biodegradable products that end up in landfills are just garbage with fancy, feel good names.

The best solution to this problem is composting. If you are in a large city, and small apartment check out No Impact Man and if your city has compost drop off sites. If you have an outdoor area, there are many different composters available for purchase, or you can take the cheaper route and build it yourself. I’m hoping to get ours built this summer, so if you have any tips please let us know! To avoid odors or fruit flies, simply pick up some biodegradable bags and collect compostable garbage indoors, tie it up and toss the bag in your outdoor composter.

Waste reduction is also an incredibly important element. Simple awareness of product packaging and conscious purchasing can help reduce individual garbage output. For example,instead of the individual yogurt cups, buy a large container of yogurt and then dish out a portion in a reusable container (maybe one of those old yogurt cups) to take with you. And reuse! For some free Tupperware, just wash out your old plastic or glass containers and use them to store leftovers. And it never hurts to ask. If you have a favorite product that seems to over package, let the company know. After all, if it will make the customer happy and save them money in packaging, I doubt they’ll be reluctant to comply!

Last, if composting is not an option, there are 100% recycled trash bags. While it is still using plastic, it is not virgin but rather 100% post consumer recycled.

“If every household in the U.S. replaced just one package of 30 count tall kitchen bags made from virgin plastic with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

• 89,700 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 5,100 U.S. homes for a year

• 1.6 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 2,400 full garbage trucks

• and avoid 33,300 tons of pollution”

For other waste reduction ideas, check out more from No Impact Man, a NY family experimenting with how to cause no net impact on the environment, with the first phase being no waste. Which means no toilet paper. Zero. Wow.

I hope these ideas helped! If anyone else has some gems to toss into the ring, please don’t hesitate!

Paper or Plastic? No thank you!

Here are even more inexpensive options to kick the plastic habit.

Easy and free, just grab a bag laying around your house.

For those craftily inclined, simply make your own bag!

Find some fabric from old cloths or linens and sew a couple squares together. Add an old belt for the handle and viola! you’ve got the one of a kind shopping bag that will turn everyone green.

Put on your knitting/crocheting cap and recycle your old bags. Simply collect the old plastic bags, cut into strips, and go crazy. Your new plastic bag will be sturdy, reusable, compact and easily rinsed out. Here’s just one easy pattern, there a many others out there, or make your own and share.

Shopping list for the shopping bag:

1. Reusable Bags have a huge array in all price ranges. They’ve got a recycled cotton tote at $7.95 which holds a full load and is fair trade!

2. Don’t forget to grab some small guys for produce.

3. Grab a workhorse for $9.95, that folds into it’s own attached bag and fits in your palm, perfect to carry in your purse or throw in the dashboard.

4. Or make your statement with this BYOB (bring your own bag).

5. If you’d rather reuse your current bags, check out this guy at $9.95, which allows you to wash easily in the dishwasher.

6. As Peggy pointed out the key to success is keeping “reusable containers handy” and Ecoezi has a great solutions. For $21.95 “compact, convenient, stylish wallet, with 10 sturdy, easy to use machine washable bags.”

7. Envirosax has beautiful prints with a set of in a carry pouch for $31.

8. For some fun prints check out b. happybags. The bags are organic and made in the US and are each $24.

If you want the nano of the bag, check out Onya, which is stuffed into a bag on your key chain.

San Fransisco isn’t the only place to grasp the severity of our waste, IKEA “Ikea has begun charging U.S. customers for plastic shopping bags in an effort to improve environmental responsibility, the home-furnishings chain says,” we’ll all be carrying our own bags soon enough, why not lead the pack with some cheap style!

What’s all the hullaballo?

~500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
The average American family of four throws away about 1,500 single-use plastic bags per year
Less than 1% are recycled. Most are used for trash bags which take ~1,000 years to degrade in the landfill. Wow, isn’t that scary

An interesting new approach has been to biodegradable plastics which can be tossed into the sea. While biodegradable is certainly better, where in the world are they planning on dumping all of these?!?