Just Say No to Plastic Shopping Bags

I remember my Dad saying that the only legacy of a certain big-box store would be their blue, plastic shopping bags. I must say that I think he’s correct. Bags float on the breeze and It seems like I see them everywhere. And when I come home from the store, it seems like I have one bag for every item I’ve purchased. They have become a ubiquitous part of our daily life.

Although exact numbers can’t be calculated, according to CleanAir.org, Americans use approximately 1 billion disposable, plastic shopping bags every year, and these bags create 300,000 tons of landfill waste. They also do not biodegrade and less than 1 percent of them are recycled.

Many plastic bags end up in our waterways, and a group called Algalita Marine Research Foundations says on their website that thousands of marine animals die each year by ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic. 

But the Environmental Protection Agency reports that communities around the globe, in places like San Francisco, Portland, Boston and dozens more, have banned the bags. There are also entire countries that have banned or taxed plastic bags, including China, Bangladesh, Austria and Italy.  

Ireland introduced a "Plas-tax" on the use of plastic bags in 2002 and the result has been that consumption of bags has dropped about 90 percent, from 1.2 billion to 230 million per year. 

But we don’t have to wait for a tax or a ban on plastic bags. We can simply choose not to use them and carry our own bags. Most stores like and now sell their own reusable shopping bags; many different kinds of bags are available for sale online at stores like Reuseit.com or EcoBags.com. 

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health recommends that if you switch to reusable bags, you use bags made of materials that can be washed, for sanitary reasons. They also recommend bagging uncooked meats in plastic bags.

doesn’t recycle them, the service department's website says, but if you do end up with a bunch of blue plastic bags in your pantry you can repurpose them to hold your other recyclable items. And many stores now recycle plastic bags as well, including Marc’s, Heinen’s, Acme, Giant Eagle and Lowe’s.

To help raise awareness about the impact of plastic on our environment, the third annual Lake Erie Boat Float is happening on September 10. Participants make boats out of post-consumer recyclable materials, and a group called DrinkLocalDrinkTap is organizing a beach cleanup on the same day.

So I’ve been trying to just say no to plastic bags, and I have the reusable bags in the trunk of my car. If only I could figure out a way to remember them when I go into the store.