Do You Have Too Many Reusable Bags?

Reusable Bags - All Green Electronics Recycling
Photo Credit: Earth911.com: Amanda_Wills

In an effort to stop using plastic bags, I’ve accumulated 9 billion reusable ones. Does that sound familiar?

When I learned exactly how bad plastic bags are for the environment, I went to the store and purchased a nice canvas bag. I was still in high school and didn’t go shopping much, so it worked fine for me. I even convinced my parents to buy a few for grocery shopping. But a couple of years later, I went away to college and saw a nice reusable bag with my new school logo.

“Why not?” I thought. “I’m on my own now and have to do grocery shopping and stuff.” (Or, as it was, I had to spend my meal points at the campus mini-mart because the dining hall food wasn’t edible.)

Now let’s fast forward to my move home from college. I had to find a way to pack all of my belongings into my tiny car and drive a thousand miles back to my parents’ house. I could only fit a couple of boxes in my car and they didn’t work well with the space I had available. I needed something that was flexible enough to cram into every nook and cranny, but durable enough to hold heavy items without breaking.

Then I saw it at the checkout stand: reusable bags. They were the perfect solution! Only a dollar each, flexible, durable, and I could use them again later when I moved to my own place.

Now I have more reusable bags than I’ll ever need, but I didn’t know what to do with them until now. Santa Monica established a Share A Bag program. Those with too many reusable bags can drop off their extras at Share A Bag locations and people without reusable bags can pick one up for free. If you forget your reusable bag while shopping, you can look at it as a loan, but if you can’t afford reusable bags, they’re yours to keep.

If this program was established in my hometown, I’d take advantage of it. But if I head up to Santa Monica in the near future, I’ll make sure to take my extra bags with me to donate.

Do you have too many reusable bags?

You can read the original article here.

If you do need to buy a reusable bag, check out this post first: Not All Reusable Bags Are Created Equal

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