Lacking

Shopping resulting in any accumulation of more than one bag leaves one with a dilemma. Witness the accumulation of bags on the recliner after last Saturday's trip.

We didn't go into a lot of stores. I tried, every time I purchased something, to see if they would add to a bag I had already accumulated. "No," was the universal answer.

Three years ago, that wouldn't have bothered me. The Dominicks grocery store across from the office had a large bin where a recycler would take your plastic bags. I never threw one into the garbage. But Dominicks closed and Mariano's is not stepping up, indeed no one is, to fill the void. I have 2 large bags filled with plastic bags accumulated over the past 2 years since Dominicks has been gone. I have myself so trained that I still stuff a large plastic bag with smaller bags out of habit, even though I know I have no place to take them. Mariano's does have a small, very small, bag recycling bin, but I could fill it just on my own.

According to the little bit available online, recycling bags is a headache. Black and colored bags differ in composition from white bags. Inks used to print logos have to be removed from the chemical soup which results when bags are ground and then melted to make more bags. It's expensive. The market for recycled paper products is huge and it's easy to turn used into new.

I understand the mindset of Lane Bryant, where I bought a pair of jeans. Your bag is somewhat free advertising. Seeing someone walking around with a Lane Bryant bag might make you consider going to that store to see what they have for sale. But companies need to also understand that consumers want to make greener choices. If I get a large bag because I bought a pair of jeans, I'm just going to stuff the other, smaller bags inside it. We've been doing that for centuries. Why lug around 15 bags when you can lug around 3? No one's going to see that I went to the Carter outlet because that bag is inside another. The mind set also can't be chalked up to loss prevention, either. I'm stuffing my purchase inside another bag. If I'm going to steal something, a bag from the Carter's outlet is NOT what I'm going to be using.

I don't shop much anymore. I try to remember, when I do go out, to grab a reuseable bag. I feel very bad about shoving my plastic bags into a garbage bag and setting it out with my garbage, yet I don't have an option. Maybe bag recycling needs to figure out a better way to be done. It's something very lacking in all the recycling we are able to do.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb