A new life for canvas totes
It's a small thing really, and nothing new, but about a year ago, I gathered all of my canvas tote bags, accumulated over years of conference attending, and stationed them behind the seat in my car, for handy use in regular grocery shopping.
In my (less environmentally hip) part of the Southeastern US, I do stand out a bit, as I drag them out, and some of the baggers think I'm eccentric, but others think I'm quite smart... and, I'm sure glad not to have all of those plastic bags to recycle, if they actually ever get to a recycling plant from the grocery store bin.
I feel like I'm setting a good example, and I'm noticing more people using their own bags in the last couple of months, as the issue has been publicized a bit more in the mainstream media here in the U.S. I know those of you in Europe and some other areas in the U.S., and elsewhere, think, geez, I've been doing that for years. But change can be remarkably slow in conservative areas.
Actually, all of our local grocery stores sell reusable nylon logo bags, but I think they're really too small to be much use. My totes have the virtue of having long straps (easy to carry), and being tough and washable. I don't look particularly stylish (they're definitely an assortment of styles and colors).
In the last couple of months, I've been using organic cotton mesh bags from reusablebags.com for produce. There are large and small ones, open and closed mesh. These really elicit comment, but whatever. They work extremely well, are easy to wash when they're dirty, and save me from yet another round of plastic produce bags.
