Change the World Wednesday - Plastic bags

Change the World Wednesday is hosted by Reduce Footprints. 

The current topic for Change the World Wednesday is plastic bags.   The goal is to go at least 1 week plastic bag free.  If that's something that you already do, spread the word about how bad plastic bags are.

If you remember, I recently mentioned flip & tumble and their product bags since there was a deal on Jasmere for the company.   So this blog post is a combination of me talking about the horrors of plastic bags, what I am doing about it, and a product review.

flip & tumble products - and my re-usable bag process

First off, the product.  I actually received my flip & tumble items within days of placing my order.  I was incredibly surprised by how fast they arrived.    I received a set of product bags, a carry pouch, a mini bag, a shopper bag, and a 24-7 bag. 

I got the carry pouch because right now the product bags I already have, just get thrown on top of the other re-usable bags I have.    Well, first.  Here's my process.  I have a nice selection of re-usable bags. I originally bought 10 when a local store had them $5 for 5 and they were the ones I wanted because there is a plastic (removable) piece in the bottom and I thought that would be perfect for groceries.  Most of the other bags I have that are the same kind were received for free.  I then have some decorative ones I've picked up here and there because I either liked the design or they were  offered with a certain purchase etc.   Of the bags that are all the same size/kind.  I usually have one opened and the rest folded up inside of it.  I keep this in my car so that whenever I go shopping I already have them.  At home I usually have one opened and hanging on the closet door in the laundry room, and as I use bags from my car and carry them into my house, they get folded and put into the one in the laundry room.  When I use up all the bags in my car or only have a couple left, I then grab the one from the laundry room and put it in my car and the process starts all over.   Now, I first got some produce bags a couple of months ago.  These get thrown on the top of the folded bags and I'm always worried about losing them.   This is where the carry pouch comes in.  It's small enough not to be a pain, but big enough to fit the 5 produce bags I bought and the ones I already own.  Now I'm not worried about losing them.

I've used the mini bag and the shopper bag.  I love how light they are and how they fold up into a ball.  I threw them into my purse and they came in handy because I did go into one store and forget to bring a bag in with me, but when I went for my wallet I saw those and was able to use them.   They were perfect!

I have used the produce bags already too.   I love these produce bags because it's a tight weave, so no big  holes (unlike 2 of my others).

No more plastic bags
I have to admit that for the most part, I don't use plastic bags anymore.  I'm usually pretty good about having a re-usable bag with me when I do shopping so that I don't.  If I don't remember a bag, a lot of times I get lucky that I'm either not buying a lot or buying something big so I can either carry it or put it in my purse.

However there are times when I still find myself using plastic bags.  One of these instances is when I buy items in bulk, such as my sunflower seeds and nuts.   I've also been known to forget my product bags in the car and have to use the plastic ones for that.

I'm really trying to get away from plastic though because I know how horrible it is for the environment.

So this past weekend I headed to the store to buy some nuts and dried cranberries for trail mix.  I knew I would buy in bulk and that's usually where I get stuck using plastic bags.  This time I came armed with my new produce bags and they were perfect!  I was able to attach the tags to the bags with the numbers so the cashier would know what product I used.   I want to find a way to get rid of that, but not sure how yet.   I was worried that the cashier wouldn't like the produce bags since you can't see inside of them unless you open them, although just from feeling them you would know there were nuts in them.  Luckily the cashier was very cool about it and even said several times how cool the bags were and they worked perfectly for the items I got.  Hopefully I've converted somebody!

I've also bought bio-degradable plastic bags for the kitchen trash can (the only trash can lined with plastic).  I have hopes that this will be a good fit, although still not happy with the fact that it's plastic but not sure else I could do.  Our trashcans for outside don't have lids (they were left by the previous owner and since they still work, don't see the point in buying new cans), so I'm not comfortable putting trash in the cans that isn't sealed.  We have a lot of deer and other wildlife in my subdivision.

I use paper backs when I clean up after the dog too.  So at least I don't have plastic there.

I realize this was an incredibly long post, but hopefully it gave you some ideas of what you could do instead of using plastic.  I can't rave about my produce bags enough.  Love, love, love them.