Welp, today I finally took the plunge and actually managed to have a cloth bag in my car when I went to the grocery store. As I entered the store with my reusable cloth bag in hand, little did I know the amazing experience that I was about to have…

No Shopping Cart, No Problem

I passed rotch by the shopping carts, and just went straight to filling my cloth bag with some groceries. This was good, since I just could go straight to the food. Of course, I wasn’t getting too much stuff, but if you are, you might want to use that shopping cart.

Durability

After buying the groceries, I stuffed most of the food inside the reusable cloth bag. I didn’t have to worry about it ripping (like a plastic or even paper bag might have), so I just stuffed food into it until it couldn’t hold no more. Luckily, the tote bag held quite a bit, mainly because it had

More Room than a Plastic or Paper Bag

I was downright dumbfounded when I dared to discern the depth of the dapper cloth bag. I fit pretty much all the groceries I bought into it, making it easier to carry them all to the car and into mi casa. The only groceries I didn’t put into the bag were the ones that already came in a bag (a bag o’ apples). So the reusable cloth bag’s big volume was a definite advantage over plastic or paper bags.

Lack o’ Clutter

I would’ve used two or three plastic or paper bags today, but instead I just used one reusable cloth bag. The paper or plastic bags would’ve ended up taking up more room inside my house, but Mr. Cloth Bag just sits in the car, awaiting another mission to the grocery store.

Ecological Impact

This is what causes most people to choose reusable cloth bags over flimsy, disposable paper or plastic bags. Yes, it took some ink (and chemicals) to make my cloth bag, but now that I am reusing it again and again, that can be a sunk cost. If I was to continue to use paper and plastic bags, each one would have a double environmental impact; the considerable chemicals used in their production, plus the impact of their disposal, whether it’s in a landfill, or disposed by burning it.

Using a reusable cloth bag seems to be the way to go. It’s a tiny difference that everyone can easily make, and instead of being a sacrifice they have to make, it’ll actually give them the same benefits that I enjoyed today. So be cool, and use (and reuse) that cloth bag with pride.

Oh yeah, I got my reusable cloth bag for free. So they’re not too expensive.

Everyone likes to get mail. When you open your mailbox and see that someone else has taken the time to handwrite a letter to you, it’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. But all too often, the only thing in your mail box (besides bills) are catalogs of junk. You don’t want them. Why did that company send them to you? If only there was a way to stop them from doing this and wasting all that paper and time…

Welp, it turns out that there’s a website that stops junk catalogs before they start. It’s called Catalog Choice, and their mission is to stop these junk catalogs from ever being sent or even made. It turns out that over 8 million tons of trees are used each year for paper catalogs — most of these are unwanted catalogs that are thrown away as soon as they’re received. By using their website, you can help out the environment while at the same time helping out yourself. You and the trees win, and the only losers are the catalogs that you didn’t even order in the first place!

To stop getting unwanted catalogs in your mail box, just visit their site by click this:

“Paper or plastic?” It’s an age-old question that has haunted people since the dawn of time, if not longer.  Some people get paper bags for their strength.  Others get plastic bags for the fun handles.  But if you’re trying to lower your eco-footprint, then you are basing this decision on its environmental impact.  cheap nfl jerseys Hopefully, this here will help you make your decision.

Consumption:

Paper Bags: American use over 10 billion paper Italia bags each year. Around 14 million trees are chopped down each year for paper bag wholesale jerseys production.

Plastic Bags: If you thought 10 billion was a lot, how about this: around 100 billion plastic bags are used in America each year. That takes about 12 million barrels of oil annually, just for bags.  Dang.

Production:

It takes close to 4 times as much energy to make wholesale mlb jerseys a paper bag compared to a plastic bag. But, plastic winter bags are made from oil (non-renewable resource), while paper bags are made from trees (renewable resource).

Pollution:

Paper Bags: Toxic chemicals used in paper bag production (like bleach and acid) contribute to water pollution and air pollution (acid rain).  Surprisingly, paper bag production generates 70 percent more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic bags.

Plastic Bags: Plastic bag production requires hazardous chemicals also.  According to an EPA ranking of chemicals that generate the most hazardous waste, 5 of the top 6 chemicals are used in plastics production.  Plus, hundreds of thousands sea animals die each year from eating plastic bags, which clog their New digestive tracts or choke them.

Recycling:

Paper Bags: Lots of chemicals have to be used to recycle paper bags. Once a bag is wholesale nba jerseys recycled, it’s more likely to be used to make cardboard than another paper bag.

Plastic Bags: A lower percentage of plastic bags than paper bags are recycled. Increasingly, plastic bags collected for recycling are instead sent to countries such as China and India, where they can be cheaply burned due to weak environmental laws.  Good ol’ India and China.

Biodegradable:

Paper Bags: Paper bags do break down after a Wholesale Nike San Francisco 49ers Jerseys while, but not if they’re in a modern landfill. In that case, 95 percent of the garbage is buried under layers Krimskrams! of soil, so air and sunlight can’t reach the bags to decompose them.  So they just sort of sit there.

Plastic Bags: They don’t break down.

My Conclusion:

Use a reusable bag. Keep a cloth bag in “clase your car, and just use that whenever you go shopping for something.  When I worked at Fresh Market in Asheville, plenty of people came through with cloth bags.  These bags can hold more than paper or plastic bags, they’re stronger, and you don’t end up getting a bunch of disposable bags that will clutter up your house.  Plus, you can get bags with jawsome designs or slogans on the side, which makes you cooler than Quiz them My people that are using plain ol’ plastic or paper bags, thus bolstering your poor self-esteem.   And that is what really matters.