Folks,
Today we have the pleasure of having Bruce Spitzer, professor of Instructional Technology in the Department of Education, submit his shopping story to the blog. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Bruce! :0) M
Bruce writes:
With the upcoming Bag Fest and a renewed interest in using permanent shopping bags, I wanted to share with you my most recent shopping experience at the Martin's grocery store on S.R. 23 in South Bend.
My wife and I have used canvas and net shopping bags for some time now, and it's habit that they are in the back seat of the car. So naturally, I took them in with me shopping last Saturday morning. This was our monthly "big buy" where we stock up on many items we use throughout the month such as canned goods, dry goods, and such.
After an hour of shopping, I had a loaded basket and headed to the check-out. I placed my 3 canvas bags and one net bag on the counter (and received my 12 cent credit!) and asked the bagger to "fill them up; no plastic please."
Believe it or not, $200 worth of groceries, canned goods, fresh vegetables, and dairy products fit in those 4 bags! Of course, I didn't bag the roll of paper towels, the large, packaged frozen salmon, and Martin's provided a reuseable cardboard 6-pack carrier for my 4 bottles of wine (which this time around also held a bottle of olive oil).
Not a single plastic bag left Martin's that day because of me and that means not a single additional bag in the landfill this week because of me.
It can be done: $200 worth of groceries in 3 canvas and 1 net bag!
Regards,
Bruce Spitzer
IUSB Faculty
When the Antarctic Ice Sheet melts . .
1 week ago
1 comment:
A ban on plastic shopping bags is like "spitting in the wind". Let's all have a reality check folks! I am all for cleaning up our environment. However, singling out one source of plastic waste is absurd! All of you out there that are standing on your "soapboxes" calling for the ban of plastic shopping bags have no clue what effect that would have on the hard working Americans that produce these bags including the pyramid of suppliers and companies that support the manufacturers. The next time you are at the checkout line or strolling through the aisles of your local supermarket or convenience store, just stop for moment and take notice of all the items, wrapped, packed, stacked and labeled with plastic. I would have to make very an un-scientific guess that maybe 80% of all items you are putting into your "demonized" plastic shopping bags contain or are solely protected/packaged by plastic. This includes items packaged within a paper box. Think about it. There is FAR MORE processed plastic products going INTO your shopping bag, then there is contained within the shopping bag itself. Let's not forget that we throw this all out into a big black heavy garbage bag. A plastic shopping bag ban is a total waste of time! The only sane option should be an enforceable plastic bag recycling program. ALL PLASTIC! Thank you for taking the time to read my post. For anyone that is in need of recyclable plastic bags or reusable shopping bags, please visit www.isellpackaging.com Global Packaging Solutions manufactures and sells a wide variety of environmentally friendly retail packaging products. All which are recyclable.
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