This is a great idea and is the reason why the government has enacted a bag tax in the state of california to encorage the use of reusable bags

I love using my own bags at the grocery store!!! Plastic bags are a total waste to our natural world, and according to many studies, it takes from 100 to 1000 years to decompose.  They are simply too artificial for bacteria and decomposers to break down, and I am glad now that California has enacted a bag tax and also limited the use of plastic bags.  Paper bags, however, are fine to me because they are much more compostable and generally hold more than plastic bags, but again, we are still creating waste; it is just taking a shorter time to decompose.

I agree, Logan!! I see plastic bags just drifting around the streets or outside the store, where it could potentially harm something or just take too long to break down. My mom and I always bring reusable bags (that are really cute!!) and use those for shopping; plus, they can hold a lot more than multiple plastic bags can. We rarely use plastic bags, and try to avoid them as much as possible. The tax that some states have started is a really smart move; the entire country should try out that policy too.

I agree with Fela over bringing your own bags, but at some point in the future we could even opt to only using reusable bags. To start this future of only reusable bags, we would have to make some changes to the way the grocery stores around us operate. I know 77 bills have been proposed by 23 states in an effort to slow or even band plastic bags, but none of these bills have been passed yet. Once these bills go under way there would also be an issue on reusable bags, some reusable bags are made of plastic that would still take 450 years, at the least, to decompose! If we were to ban and make a move on the plastic bag elimination, we could only have fabric bags that were made in the US, or wherever you live, so that there would be no major carbon fuels from airplanes.

Now looking at all of that, according to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor … =111672574 all of these efforts would help a little bit, but they think it's mostly better to put our interests in someplace else that would have a bigger impact on our environment.

What would you think would be t he better place to focus on?
And do you think that all of these efforts for plastic bags would even be worth the effort?
And how do reusable fabric grocery bags impact our environment once thy break and we have to throw them away?

Sources:
http://www.postconsumers.com/education/ … iodegrade/
http://www.ncsl.org/research/environmen … ation.aspx
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor … =111672574

I agree with using your own bags when going to grocery stores. This summer I traveled to Barcelona for a month and my mom and I had to buy our own groceries. In grocery stores, the plastic bags cost you Euros. So this promoted the 'bring your own bag' system. According to the Huffington Post, it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the estimated 100 billion plastic bags that Americans use each year. Also, the petroleum used to produce 14 plastic bags, can drive a car one mile. The amount of times that 14 goes into 100 billion is 7,142,857,143. That means that if we completely diminish the use of plastic bags, we could have 7,142,857,143 miles worth of gas. Even cutting down just half the number of plastic bags that still leaves us with 3,571,428,571 miles worth of gas.
SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/0 … 09065.html

I strongly agree with you that we should bring our own bag to the grocery store. I have a bucket of bags in the back of my trunk that I always use when I go to the grocery store. Honestly, I think it's worth it not only to save money for the bag, but also reusing the bags that would have been thrown away.

This is a great and simple idea! According to an article I read, 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed yearly worldwide. This is over 1 million a minute, and billions end up in landfills. Just simply bringing your own bag to the grocery store could really impact the environment, cutting down on plastic bag pollution. When I went to Hawaii, they didn't sell plastic grocery bags. Most stores had either canvas bags or paper bags. Since their land area is limited, they must take care of it, and not build up the landfills. When my mom goes grocery shopping, she brings a really cool grocery bag that hangs in your shopping cart. When you're done, you close the grocery bag, and it's simple and easy to carry. When she goes shopping she also brings canvas bags. A good store is Lululemon. Instead of putting their merchandise in a plastic bag, they put it in a canvas bags. These are a great alternative to plastic bags. In addition to being environmentally friendly, these bags are also super cute and can be used for anything from a purse to a lunch box to a book bag. Th is small change can make a huge difference because cutting down on plastic bag consumption will decrease the plastic bag pollution. Plastic bag pollution is dangerous because it is hard to decompose. Because of this, plastic bags must be burned, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, increasing our carbon footprint.
I would like to know more of your thoughts about bringing your own bags to the grocery store. Do you bring your own grocery bags or do you use the plastic ones they give you? What should we do if we forget to bring our own bags? If we do use plastic grocery bags, how are some ways we can reuse them?

Source: https://conservingnow.com/plastic-bag-c … ion-facts/
The bag my mom uses at grocery stores: https://www.amazon.com/Original-Authent … 518&sr=1-2 ($6.69 for 2 bags!!! That's not a big price to pay)
[Lululemon_bags](//muut.com/u/footprint/s2/:footprint:hHZC:lululemon_bags.jpg.jpg)
^^ See?! Lululemon bags are super cute and come in different sizes for each of your needs!

I am often finding myself guilty of forgetting to bring reusable bags to the grocery store. When I lived in the Sacramento area, this was deemed much more acceptable, and therefore, my mother and I rarely brought bags with us. However, since moving to Oakland, we often feel shame when we have to ask the grocer for bags. This has helped my mother remember, as she purchased small bags that she can fit into her purse. As using reusable bags, however, cannot harm the environment, it does not make a significant impact. I agree, Emma, that it is a great and simple idea, but I think the real focus should be on the packaging of the goods that are being put into the bags. Many foods and goods are packaged with plastic or other landfill products, which are the items that are impacting the environment.

I too think it is a good idea to bring your own reusable bags to the store in order to avoid using plastic bags that often end up in places they shouldn't be, like in the ocean. I often times bring my own bags when I am shopping, but sometimes I do forget. When I do receive a plastic bag, I reuse the bag as many times as possible. I usually use the bags as liners for my trash bins. When I dispose of the trash in the bin, I will keep the bag, reusing it for a long time. I feel that plastic bags should be nationally banned in the United States and replaced with paper bags or bags made of other recycled materials. However, those paper bags should still cost something in order to dissuade people from buying them over bringing their own bags. Hopefully by creating a law that bans plastic bags from the US will encourage other countries to follow suit so that eventually the large numbers of bags bought in America and around the world will decrease.

I agree! I think everyone should use reusable bags when they go to the store. This a practice that my family uses because I live in a city that has banned plastic bags, and makes customers pay for paper ones. My family did not bring our own bags before the law was passed, so I think outlawing them would encourage more people to do it. http://plasticbaglaws.org/get-involved/ … alifornia/