"Oh, I don't need a bag, thanks!"

[crispini]

This is what I say when ever I am purchasing one or two items -- books, toiletries, whatever -- that I can perfectly well carry in my hands or shove in my purse. Something I've been doing for a while, but I still get odd looks for it from store clerks. By now it's habit though. And GUESS WHAT! I got a great Christmas present -- a pack of string bags for grocery shopping and etc. I will now happily no-bag-it all over town.

It's self-defense, really. The more of those damn plastic bags I bring into my house, the more I have to remember to take them to be recycled. I already have enough to-be-recycled crap around my house!

Ya know, when you think about where all the recyclables have to go, it's still a real pain:

Cans, glass, some plastics, newspaper ONLY --> Curbside
Junk mail, heavy cardboard --> Recycling dumpster by the church
plastic grocery bags--> grocery store
food scraps--> Compost pile

The biggest thing I still throw out in the trash is the kitty litter!

[K8-EEE]

1. "No Bag, Thanks" Was My 2002 New Years Resolution!

And one I actually kept! I find it MUCH EASIER to bring four or five canvas bags to the grocery store than to have them pack the same amount of stuff in 20 little wretched plastic bags. I hate those things.

I do have o one of those little net bags in my purse, perfect for small every day purchases. I love the Trader Joes canvas grocery bags with the re-enforced bottoms for big grocery hauls. I just put them back in the car after unpacking them and now I'm used to bringing them in with me.

[NMDemDist2]

2. that is one of my 2005 resolutions. I have several canvas bags

currently full of books to go back to the bookstore, but i'll get it done this week for sure

[Merrick]

3. Sometimes I cant help but doing it with a touch of sarcasm...

like when I'm buying one single serving size bag of cheetos, a single tube of chap stick, or in one case (this I found most hilarious) a little fake moustache from a halloween shop.

I know those workers are programmed to automatically throw anything and everything into a big old plastic bag, but for Christ sake, I think I can manage my new banana just fine without one, thanks.

[K8-EEE]

4. Banana Management

Certainly there are some who would double-bag the damn banana....LOL!

[NMDemDist2]

5. cuz you just never know where that banana has been.......

snorf

[chaska]

6. I read a sentence in an article the other day....

that struck me funny. It was something like "People buy plastic bags just so they can throw them away." Meaning garbage bags, of course. I think he may be on to something.

[MarieP]

7. I bought some cotton & hemp shopping bags

about 6 weeks ago. I love using them, and I was surprised when one grocery store gave me 3¢ per bag credit, and others gave me 5¢ per bag.

[NMDemDist2]

8. many stores do that IME

esp on the west coast

[crispini]

9. Whole Foods does that!

I just took my new string bag in to do some shopping and the cashier handed me a nickel! it was like a present! :)

[buycottJoe]

10. Here in Michigan, Whole Foods Market

gives you a dime credit for every paper bag you bring back and that they reuse for your groceries. They give a credit for cloth bags also. It just seemed so cool when I first saw someone doing this. Now I always hope that other people will be influenced by me doing this. It's easy enough to keep a few in the car. I guess I think more about influencing other people, then about the few dimes I save.

[crispini]

11. Exactly. I feel very...

"hey, everybody, look at me, I'm using string bags!" when I walk into the store. Heh.

[LisaLynne]

29. It's a tip ...

for being cool and saving the world. :)

[wildeyed]

12. Oh good, I am glad I am not the only person who does this.

When I moved down south, I actually got hostile comments from baggers at the grocery store.

It is actually much easier to haul groceries in my own bags than it is in those awful little plastic deals. I never worry about the bag breaking, either. It is such an easy thing to do, and if everyone did it, it would make a huge difference.

[Digit]

19. Ha! When I moved down south, I noticed that grocery checkers put only

one thing in each grocery bag. They have NO CLUE as to how to pack a grocery bag.

[CitySky]

13. at CostCo they don't even have bags!

Thanks for the reminder! I need to put my canvas bags in the car for when i go into the "regular" stores.

Tuesday night i came home with my CostCo Haul O' The Month, and this time I remembered to bring my own bag. :) Plus they let you load up into dicarded cardboard cartons.

(happily munching Kirkland dried fruit...)

[mhr]

14. Hi Crispini - Can You Stop By My House For A Recyclable Pick Up

Thanks!

[crispini]

15. LOL, smartass! :)

:hi: I actually have an apartment-dwelling friend who brings his glass and plastic by and drops it off at my house for the Monday pickup. Has his own blue bags and everything! I guess it's easier than seperating it out and taking it by the recycling dumpster.

[mhr]

16. Yes, My Cupboard Is Becoming Cluttered With French's Mustard Jars

Oh, How I love that French's mustard.

[WolverineDG]

17. I got a canvas bag for Christmas!

now with all the other ones i pick up for free at conferences, i'm all set to go grocery shopping. :)

now if i could just get target to stop giving me gift receipts when i buy pet food & cat litter, i'd be happy. ;)

dg

[intheflow]

18. "It already comes packaged!"

This is what I say when they want to bag one or two items. Most of the time the cashiers look at me and kinda laugh, as though they've never considered that everything we buy is in packaging and therefore doesn't all need to be bagged.

I always want to bring a canvas bag but forget. That would be a good New Year's resolution for me. I have the bags...just need to put them in the car.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

20. On the other side of the counter, I ALWAYS ask people if they need a bag

I work in a campus bookstore, and many times people will bring their backpacks in with them. Before I started asking, they'd accept it as normal that their stuff was bagged (even if it was just two packs of gum), but if I ask, many people remember their backpacks and say, "No, thanks."

[KitSileya]

22. I don't use a purse, I always carry a backpack.

I'm a teacher so I'm always hauling books back and forth, and even when I don't, I always carry a book to read on the bus or if I have to wait somewhere. So I most often stuff things I buy in the backpack, be that groceries or other things, and not only am I environmentally friendly, I am also being good to my back.

Of course, I do use plastic bags (which are much sturdier here in Norway than the flimsy American ones) as liners in my backpack - it rained 550mm (22 inches) just in December here in Bergen, so no backpack is waterproof enough. But I use those discarded by my flatmates.

And I reuse ziploc baggies as well - when people laugh at me, I just tell them I'm making sure they can drive their cars.

[fudge stripe cookays]

21. Only at the grocery store.

We need some of those guys to pick up Fargo's dog poop. As you can imagine, Pyrenees turds are quite expansive.

FSC

[InvisibleTouch]

23. An amusing side-effect of less shopping...

...is that I have less plastic bags around the house. I actually need a number of these things for shipping purposes, and for picking up dog mess, and find myself having to bug friends and family for their extras. I also use paper bags for some shipping/wrapping, and in place of garbage bags. So when I go to "regular" stores, I still accept their bags. But when I go to Wild Oats, the local organic food store, I try to remember my canvass bags. They give 5 cents off for each bag or bulk-food container you bring from home....

[kslib]

24. I do the same

and use the bags I do get for scooping the litter box, and bathroom trash.

[CitySky]

25. wastebasket liners

I use old grocery bags for trashcan liners too.

One of my housemates came home with a blue (Great) Wal-(of China)-Mart bag a few weeks ago, and it just sat there in the drawer, even when it was the only one left -- I couldn't bring myself to "condone" Wal-Mart by even having their bag line my trash. :D Finally I realized that's why it had been sitting there so long and threw the evil thing away! We have a ways to go in my house...

[NMDemDist2]

26. i scored a really nice canvas bag at the thrift store today for $1

then used it 20 minutes later to pick oranges and lemons off the tree from a family in the neighborhood that sells them for $1.50 a bag

she was so nice, since I brought my own bag and helped pick them while we had a nice chat, she gave me a jar of her apple butter she makes from the apple trees on the property

:bounce:

[lostnfound]

27. Litter green is great for your garden, if I'm not mistaken..? nt

[crispini]

28. Oo, no, you don't want to compost or add anything to the garden

that was meat or that came from a meat-eater. Parasides, buggies, etc.