Plastic bags

[wyrdwoman]

Hello

I just joined today, and the first thing I noticed was the 'carry-a-bag' link near the top of the page. I always carry a bag with me, and as it says on the site, it is sometimes a real fight to stop the shop assistants from giving you a new one.

My question is, though, what do you do with the bags when they start falling apart. My local Co-Op and Londis do pretty feeble bags that tear after 2 or 3 uses, so I tend to put my kitchen or bathroom waste in them and they end up in landfill anyway. Should I just dump the waste directly in my dustbin and recycle the bags? Unfortunately the nearest recycle bins are a car drive a way, and I don't have a car!! But I could do a special trip as it is next to my local Aldi. But at some point those plastic bags will end up getting binned. Is it worth it?

[Shirley]

Your best option is to carry a cloth bag... or more than one.

I have to confess to having quite a collection of bags now :D

A cloth bag can be repaired once it's started to wear and eventually, as a natural material, once it's completely beyond repair can be composted.

I've got some rather nice Selfsufficientish bags - not sure if there are any more left (ANDY?? DAVE??)

My most recent addition to my bag library is a jute one from Ecover. I got a 'free' gift pack of Ecover goodies when I joined the Soil Association recently.

[pol]

I agree with Shirlz, cloth bags are the only way to go as the plastic bags don't biodegrade, only photodegrade which means that they'll end up in smaller and smaller pieces that will enter the food chain. Cloth bags will last longer and then, when discarded, will rot.

[yugogypsy]

As well as the cloth bags we have, Rick and I save the woven plastic bags our rice comes in (Plantation brand-if you have it there)-as they have handles, and are very strong.

We use those now for shopping-and my store gives 4 cents back for each bag when you bring your own.

We also use them for library books and other shopping too.

Lois