Poll Results: Do You Take Reusable Bags to the Grocery Store?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again . . . I hate those little plastic grocery bags. I can’t stand how they accumulate in my house. It drives me nuts that I put them in my van so that I’ll take them to the store to recycle, but forget to take them inside and then they stay in my van for a few more weeks.
Recently, I wrote about how Lowe’s Foods is allowing their customers to purchase reusable grocery bags with their green points. And not only that, they’re giving 50 green points for each reusable bag you bring back in to use.
Two weeks ago, I purchased one more reusable bag for 1000 green points. I also received 250 green points because I brought in 5 bags. Now I have 6 bags of my own! I’m so excited!!! I have enough bags now that I haven’t had to get any plastic! Hooray! Don’t worry, I still have a large enough stash of the plastic ones at the house in case I need them.
All this talk of reusable bags has been a great conversation piece at Thrifty Mommy. We had a poll to see who was using the bags, who wanted more bags, and who wasn’t giving up their plastic bag ways. Here are the results.
Do you have reusable bags that you take to the grocery store?
36% - Yes, I have a lot of them and they are awesome!
28% - Yes, but I’d like a few more.
26% - No, but I’d really like to try them.
10% - No way, I’m sticking with plastic.
According to the results, most of you have reusable bags or would like to use them. Thanks for working to keep those crazy little bags out of the landfills.
What do you think of the results?
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6 opinions for Poll Results: Do You Take Reusable Bags to the Grocery Store?
denise
Apr 28, 2008 at 2:19 am
Im just thinking that of all the bacteria in those reuseable bags and having to wash them all the time! I could only use them for canned and boxed food and still those get put on the same belt that everyone else has put their meat and dairy on so there would be a little bacteria as well. Ugh.
Lindsey
Apr 28, 2008 at 7:37 am
They are machine washable. I wash mine frequently. I just use gentle cycle and gentle detergent. I hang mine to dry. They have held up very well.
Also, I started using reusable bags before the green movement really took hold, simply because I have a toddler and I wanted to make as few trips as possible. With the plastic bags, it seems like they are packed with only one or two items each…which made me have to take at least 5 trips unless DH was home. :( Now, with the reusable bags, they sling over my shoulder, so I can get 4 bags (which is the extent of our shopping) in one trip!
New Poll: Gas Prices & Driving
Apr 28, 2008 at 8:47 am
[…] If you’d like, you can view the results of the last poll about reusable grocery bags. […]
Owlwings
Apr 28, 2008 at 11:12 am
We recycle glass, cans, many plastics, newsprint and cardboard and garden and kitchen waste. Our local councils, in fact, are considering penalising those who don’t sort their trash properly! Our supermarkets are also actively promoting the reuse of plastic bags.
Even so, we find that many packagings are both overdone (so that one almost has more packaging than product) and not easy to recycle, either because the types of plastics and cardboard are mixed and difficult to separate or because the recycling industry is not yet developed enough to be able to accept and identify all kinds of plastic.
Plastic grocery bags, once they have seen more than half a dozen or so uses as bags, can be recycled very successfully into a wood-like substance which makes excellent outdoor furniture such as park benches and picnic tables.
Pressure and support for recycling schemes is very effective at a local level. The more that a community WANTS to recycle, the more that it will find economic ways of doing so and raising awareness of the advantages and necessity of recycling is something that is best done at ‘grass roots’ level.
Eight
Apr 28, 2008 at 11:25 am
I use an $8 big purse from Old Navy. It’s very sturdy and I LOVE it. I carry a little plastic bag (rolled up into a wee ball) inside, just in case I buy meat. And by having only one bag, I buy less packaged things that I don’t need, while having plenty of room for bulk (reused plastic baggies and ties from last time) and loose produce (ditto.)
Sharon
Apr 28, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I love my cloth bags! I only have meat put into a plastic bag. One plastic bag a week isn’t bad. I don’t worry about my boxes touching the conveyor belt where other stuff was, and then going into a cloth bag. I mean, even if I used plastic bags, my cereal box is still going into my pantry, and I don’t wash my hands just because I touched the outside of a cereal box at home, so I don’t see that it matters.
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