I remember the first time I had to shop at a conventional grocery store after working for nearly three years at a Whole Foods Market franchise. Without the employee discount I was no longer able to afford shopping exclusively at natural foods stores. I had purposely not placed any of my produce in those small plastic bags because I feel they are wasteful and also vegetables come from dirt so I don't mind them touching some before I bring them home to wash. As I went through the check out lane I placed my vegetables and fruits on the belt and my cashier proceeded to ring each item up and place them in their own plastic bag. I told her I did not want any plastic and she told me something about germs. I let her place my produce in the plastic and I sat at the end taking them out. This was when I realized I live in a society where unnecessary waste is not a major concern. I had been living in my Whole Foods bubble, unaware of the general public. One inconvenient truth that I have recently come upon is that according to the environmental research group World Watch Institute the United States disposes around 100 billion plastic bags in landfills every year. The average time span for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill is 1,000 years. In Britain, 13 billion plastic bags are given away each year by merchandisers. The estimate is that 8 billion plastic bags are put to rest in landfills while the rest end up at sea where more than 200 species of marine organisms are injured by ingestion of the bags or by getting intertwined in them. Good news is coming in the name of conscious shopping though. In March 2007 San Francisco was the first U.S. city to pass a ban on plastic bags in large supermarkets and in drugstores. Also in April of last year the town of Modbury in Devon, Britain was the first town in their country to outlaw plastic bags. The supermarkets in the small town plan to fully eliminate the practice of giving out plastic bags in the next two years.
As I was flipping through my favorite guilty pleasure Vogue Magazine one day last year I came across a twelve page spread of articles on the new trend of what they are calling "sustainable fashion". One new trend I found while looking online is the reusable shopping bag. There is a new (okay, not to all of us but to some) concept in fashion of making chic to bring your own grocery bag. There are a range of high fashion designers coming out with extremely high priced bags. Hermes has one at $960 called the "Silky Pop" grocery tote, Anya Hindmarch released 20,000 of her limited edition "I'm not a plastic bag" bag and Stella McCartney (the Queen of vegan fashion) has an organic cotton canvas shopping bag at $495. Like most high fashion trends that I like to copy but can't afford I go the "looking chic wile being thrift" look. Purchasing tote bags from stores like my local used book shop helps to support my local economy and is a cheap way to collect LOTS of totes/large purses(think vintage!). Another option, Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's and Stop and Shop all offer their signature reusable grocery bags for fewer than five dollars.
For online shopping checkout: reusablebags.com, conventiontotes.com, alternativeconsumer.com
cheers,
nyks
