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Aug 04 2008
An eco-question
I have for you all, my friendly readers and passers-by, a question about saving the environment.
It’s about bags.
Yes, those bags. Those awful plastic grocery bags that everyone hates.
It would be trivial to switch to canvas bags around here. We have the bags, and we used to be a bag-reuse family before moving into the RV.
However.
We also bought plastic garbage bags for taking out the trash. Once or twice a week, we’d go around the house and empty all the garbage out and throw it away in… plastic bags.
Some of that trash was pretty gross, especially since we recycled all cans, bottles, plastic, and paper, and composted all organics; that pretty much left meat products and pet waste in the garbage. Have you ever tried to take out meat products or pet waste in a paper bag? I don’t think the garbage company would have taken our trash– too gross! And it’s not lawful to just toss some of this into a garbage can directly– there are ordinances against free-flying cat litter, and it’s not a good idea to flush it into the septic system.
Now that we live in the apartment-on-wheels, we recycle less*, and empty the trash daily. Our trash container is a very small kitchen garbage can, almost exactly the size of:
a plastic grocery bag.
As a result of using this size of garbage, we almost never need store-bought garbage bags. When the bags come in, we store them under the sink until use. We rarely run out of bags, because the amount of “stuff” coming in is roughly the same as the amount of trash going out.
So, here is my question for all of those who use reusable canvas bags for your grocery shopping: Do you buy plastic garbage bags? If not, how do you dispose of your stinky trash?
*Sorry– there’s a limit to how many glass bottles we’ll carry around looking for a campground that has recycling before they become a moving hazard.
5 Responses to “An eco-question”
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It’s hard for me to get away from the plastic bags, too. While my home itself is not mobile, I do spend a lot of time taking rock-hunting trips. A lot of these involve camping out on public lands for a night or two. I’m a firm believer in taking any trash back out with me so I always make sure to leave the campsite the way I found it. But then, all that “gunky” stuff has to be transported, and plastic bags from the grocery store seem to be the easiest and most reliable way to do so.
I have two dogs abd three cats. I need those plastic bags from the store. In fact, I have so many that there are four bags of bags in my back hall right now. I would be lost without them. Paper bags and my garbage would be a disaster waiting to happen.