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LILY C. IN GEORGIA ASKS: My town passed a single-use plastic bag ban, but I’ve read that reusable totes can do more harm to the environment than plastic bags. Is this true? Are there any eco-friendly options for carting groceries from the store to the house?
MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
Thanks for this, Lily. It’s frustrating that when we try to do better for the earth, there are often unintended consequences. Of course, we know that everything we do and use in life has some kind of impact. Still, it’s hard to take. One minute you’re celebrating your town’s plastic bag ban, imagining tree branches and oceans free of plastic litter, and the next you’re hit with the reality that the carbon footprint of the reusable bags flooding the market may be worse than what they’re replacing.
Ugh!?
To answer your question, let’s first dive into the impact of reusable bags of all materials. Then, we’ll address the eco-friendliest alternatives to single-use plastic bags. Reducing the amount of plastic in your life is worthwhile; plastic is derived from fossil fuels, can contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals, doesn’t decompose, and contributes to air pollution when manufactured, recycled, and even incinerated. So keep the following information in mind whenever you’re shopping for any plastic alternatives—not just totes but also lunch baggies, food storage containers, and even water bottles. Everything new has a footprint. The sooner we accept this, the sooner we can all shop better as conscious consumers.
What’s a life cycle analysis?
If you’re not already familiar with this term, also known as a life cycle assessment, this is the kind of evaluation done to figure out the environmental impact of any industrial activity—including the manufacture of reusable bags—from “cradle to grave.” These exhaustive assessments account for every single impact of the entire life of a product, from extracting raw materials from the earth to manufacture to disposal—which is when any industrial object is ostensibly returned to the earth (or landfill, as the case may be). The next time you shop for new stuff, try doing your own mental LCAs in the store. They may not be totally accurate, but it’s a good habit to instill to remind yourself that every item has an impact.
The truth about reusable bags
Various LCAs and other studies have shown over the years that reusable bags and totes need to be used a lot before their footprint drops below that of disposable ones. The numbers vary widely based on individual studies; different people use different assessment factors. This can be confusing. In one Danish study, the number of times a reusable bag must be used to be better than single-use plastic is 52, for example. Some studies only look at carbon pollution. Others factor in water use or fabric type only. Polyester, recycled PET, and composites all result in different reuse numbers. Cotton, it turns out, needs a lot of reusing, especially if it’s organic cotton (i.e., it needs to be reused 20,000 times, according to that same Danish study).
Confusing number differences aside, the overall takeaway is that reusable bags need to be reused and they are imperfect. One study on the plastic bag ban in New Jersey concluded that more plastic was being used after the ban because it boosted “alternative bag production.” The state’s shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags. Other states, including California, have witnessed similar findings, especially when bag bans permit stores to sell thicker reusable plastic bags. Talk about unintended consequences.
Unfortunately, since the dawn of plastic bag bans, the reusable tote industry has really blown up. Most of us have entire kitchen drawers and hall closets overflowing with reusable bags—some were purchased but most were freebies. These stashes even have a name: bag hoards. Even if everyone has a few bags they reuse frequently, it seems no one can reuse as much as the number of bags they own.
What’s the best option?
Obviously, buying new thick plastic bags to replace free thin ones isn’t good common sense. So don’t do it. Avoid their shiny pull at checkouts everywhere. In fact, buying new bags should be your last resort. Instead:
- Use and endlessly reuse the reusables you already own. Stash them in your purse, your baby stroller, your bike basket, and your car.
- Want a new reusable bag? Ask a friend or family member for a hand-me-down or extras they aren’t reusing. Or hit a secondhand store to find new-to-you options.
- If you’re crafty, you can make your own totes. Old bed sheets, fabric scraps, or even old shower curtains can be repurposed into new reusable bags. YouTube is filled with DIY instructions.
- If ever you’re stuck in a store without a reusable, ask your fellow shoppers if you can have one of their bags. It might feel awkward, but since we are all drowning in our bag hoards, there could be someone grateful to unload one. Or choose paper if shopping in a store with a plastic-bag ban—then reuse it. Some stores will even offer you a cardboard box they were otherwise planning on recycling—it never hurts to ask.
If you have extra bags in your bag hoard, donate them to secondhand stores. And if ever you’re involved with a town implementing a single-use plastic bag ban again, make sure reusables are part of the up-front discussion. The idea is to avoid writing a loophole for inexpensive thicker plastic reusables into a ban.
When and if you have a reusable bag that has reached the end of its useful grocery-hauling life, find a creative way to reuse it. There really isn’t a viable way to recycle a thick woven plastic reusable bag, especially when you consider the chemicals and colorants used to make it. Yard waste carrier, anyone?
Tell Congress: Support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act