"Plastic bags are bad and we need to start using reusable ones."
Whenever we go to the grocery store we get to the checkout line just to realize that we forgot our reusable bags at home, or maybe we don't have any at all. Grocery stores have conveniently placed these reusable bags in line and the new different prints tempt us into buying more and more reusable bags. It's been drilled into our minds that plastic bags are bad and we should use reusable bags instead so many people will go ahead and buy the bags. I mean they're usually only a dollar or so so why not?
This unfocused attempt to save the environment leads to a huge stack of reusable bags that ultimately sits at home. Even I find myself having way too many of these bags. Worse yet, half of these bags end up ripping down the seams when I need them most. Isn't this the sustainable way to carry our good though? If we look deeper, there's a larger issue buried in this behavior and these reusable bags may be part of the issue too.
Reusable bags have a high impact on the environment. It's only actually sustainable and creates a lower impact in the long run. This means that we have to use the bags numerous times before they start becoming a good alternative for the plastic bags. Cotton bags especially have been shown to have a large impact on the environment due to their heavy consumption of resources through their creation. Cotton is a very thirsty crop and leads to a strain on many resources.
If you like numbers and the facts as much as I do, a 2018 Swedish study calculated how many times that the reusable bags have to be used in order for them to be comparable to the resources it takes to make a plastic bag. The results were
37 times for the polypropylene bags (the plastic like ones you see at the supermarket)
43 times for paper bags
7,100 times for cotton bags
You are most likely to hit the threshold for the polypropylene bags, but the main issue is that some of the bags aren't made to last and won't make it to this threshold. They oftentimes develop holes, get dirty, or the straps break. It's even more unlikely to reach these numbers if you forget to bring your bags.
So did you forget your reusable bags at home? Don't think that you'll use them? Take the plastic bags. It's really okay. The best thing that you can do is reuse the bag again as a trash liner or store them in an old Lysol container for future use to do something else with.
Overall plastic bags are just the tip of the iceberg of one-use plastic. We need to focus more on our holistic plastic usage. Take a look into the things you buy and start to notice the little things- the packaging when we order from Amazon, takeout containers, and the annoying little pieces of plastic that wrap things like the top of nail polish. Changing small parts about our lives have big impact when it comes to plastic usage.
If you want to research this topic more: Are Tote Bags Good for the Environment ArticlePlastic bag ban: Here's how many times you actually need to reuse your shopping bags
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