Greenness

[mamadeb]

My lifestyle is about as green as any New Yorker. I have my AC running all the time, and there are lights on all Shabbat, but I also walk or take mass transit whenever possible, and it's mostly possible. I only drive a car if I have no other choice.



So there's definitely room for improvement, and I decided to make one. For the past several years, I've been buying those reusable grocery bags, the $1 ones they sell in the supermarkets, but I've been using them as knitting bags. They make great knitting bags.

But there's going to be a bag tax and even though Glatt Mart has the BEST plastic shopping bags around - usable as tote bags themselves - it's still a waste to get new ones all the time. So I now have three cloth bags that are not destined to hold knitting.

Why three bags? Because they hold about the same amount as five or six plastic ones, which is generally speaking the largest non-Yom Tov shopping I do. One of them is small enough I can fold it up into my purse, too, so when I leave the house, I can just put it there in case I need it. I can also just stuff two of them into the third and carry them that way. I still have to think about taking them.

Those of you who do this and who use a car - what do you do? Remember to grab them when you leave the house, as I do? Leave some in the car at all times? Do you take them only when you know you'll be shopping or do you have them in case you stop in the grocery store on the way home from work?

There are several things I've realized. One is that these are MUCH EASIER and more comfortable than plastic bags. Two of them have straps long enough to fit over my shoulder. This makes carrying them very easy. The third has too small a strap, but it's still more comfortable in my hand than plastic.

Another is how visible they are. Everyone else carries orange plastic. I'm carrying white, black and green non-woven cloth. I'm already a little different, with my convention t-shirts, fanny pack and very non-stylish purse, and now I look really odd. More people will think I'm a vegetarian.

(People do think I'm a vegetarian. I have absolutely no idea why.)

They also make me a bit more organized - i have to put even non-perishables away properly or I'll lose the use of the bags. And I can't stuff a bag of veggies into the fridge, either. And, of course, I have to remember to take one or all. I am thinking of emptying out one of my red ones, though, and asking that that be used for any meat.

See, I may bring my own bags, but I do NOT do my own bagging.

Comments

[amadi]

I have bags from a few different stores, and a few I've made. One, from Whole Foods (where I will never shop again) is about 50% bigger than the rest, so I tend to empty it first, and then as I empty the others, they get folded and put into the Whole Foods bag, then I hang it on the doorknob so that I can take it back to the car the very next time I go out. They live in my trunk, so I can always snag a bag (or several) whenever I shop, no matter if it's for groceries or at the pharmacy or whatever. (I don't use public transit and there's nothing in walkable distance for me, alas.)

Do you use one of the ubiquitous NY shopping carts? If so, maybe store the bags in it?

[castiron]

I keep bags in the trunk of the car, but I have to remember to grab them when I go in the store (and to put them back in the trunk after I've unloaded the groceries) -- I'd say we remember to use them about a third of the time.

[zing_och]

My father's organisation gives out promotional bags, so I have a lot of them. I hang one near the door and put some others inside. There's also at least one in the bag I carry around every day.

In the car, I have a foldable basket as well as some bags.

When I do my grocery shopping, I prefer taking a wicker basket. It's easier to stow things and make sure they're not squished, and I don't forget to empty it out.

(Aside from meat, there's no one to do my bagging for me at the store! *sad face*)

[dsgood]

I travel by bus and LRT train. I usually have at least one recycled-plastic bag in my backpack; sometimes I foget to put them back in.

When I know I'll be getting a whole lot of stuff, I use a granny cart -- and an extra-large bag from Aldi Foods.

[ex_gryphon136]

I have around a dozen assorted bags, mostly canvas, because I started picking them up as souvenirs a few years ago. They live in my car, and I'm working on remembering to grab as many as I think I'll need before I head into the store.

I don't always take them back out to the car or fully unpack them right away, so once every week or so I have to make a point of collecting them from around the house and bringing them back out to the car. I do find hanging the empty ones on the handle of the door I use in the morning helps me remember them.