No Bag Please!

Plastic bag is a great invention. It's waterproof. It's can handle weight. It's also lightweight. We use many plastic bags everyday: goceries, take out lunchs, shopping, a bottle drink. If you don't think the plastic bags are strong enough to hold your goods, we double the bags.

Most of us would just throw away the bags after we take the goods out. However, these plastic bags we throw away will not decompose for at least 10 years! So, if we use and throw away one bag a day for 50 years, that would be 18,250 bags! Even for small bags, that's a huge volume!

I have always tried to use things to their full extend. So I usually keep the clean bags and use them again later (as garage bags, etc). Then, one day, I realize that if I keep taking bags when shopping, I would never be able to use up my collection! So again, I started exploring ways to reduct my "bag consumption":

If you are like me, I almost always carry a backpack. So, when I buy a small thing, like a DVD or a book, I would just put the good in my backpack (along with the plastic bag that serve no purpose now). So, I started asking cashier not to put my things into bags.

Instead of going out the buy breakfast everyday, I started buying breakfast in volume and stack them at my place. If I am really hurting for time in the morning, I would just use one of my clean bags to carry my breakfast with me to work. (better yet, you can just keep breakfast at work if you have your own space) Not only do I saved the possibility of taking another 5 bags, I am using up my clean bags!

Since I live in a city, I can afford to buy things little by little frequently. Also, I carry a gorcery bag with me so that I don't need to take new plastic bags. What strike me is how cashiers automatically put goods into bags. Once, I have bought a bottle soda. The cashier looked at me wired after I told her that I didn't need a bag for it.

If all of us start reducing our bag consumptions, the demand for bags will be lowered. That, in turn, will reduce the production of plastic bags. As an added bonus, plastic is made of oil. So, lowering consumption in plastic also lowers consumption in oil.

So next time when you go buy gocery, tell the cashier, "No Bags Please!"