I wish all grocery stores, convenience store would stop using plastic bags. They are used to carry items, and then immediately discarded and can not be recycled.
We should avoid recyclable bags too. The environmental impact of recycling is unacceptably high. Far better to use a reusable bag that lasts for years. When I forget to take my reusable bags I ask the store to just leave the groceries in the cart, and I transfer them to my car without a bag. We get a credit of $.05 per reusable bag we bring, but they also give us $.20 if we just SAY we have 4 bags in the car. (I usually do have.) Some 'no frills' super markets leave out used boxes to be reused. People will bring them back repeatedly to save paying an extra .03 per plastic bag. We are not being cheap, just responsible.
In some ways they are more enviromentaly friendly than paper. They are much easier to recycle than paper, and leave a smaller carbon footprint when shipping. And of course they save a tree. Plastic bags would ideally work best if people in the US receycled more often though.
The most environmentally friendly option is to bring your own reusable bag (i.e. canvas bag). If you can't or won't, plastic bags might be the best option. Paper bags require more energy to produce and trees to be cut down, but are easily recyclable. Plastic bags require less energy to produce, but are not recyclable. They are reusable for other applications, but only if your area has a specific plastic grocery bag recycling program (every retail store in California is now required by law to have one, for example). So from most to least environmentally friendly: 1) Bring canvas bag(s) 2) Plastic if there's a specific recycling program 3) Paper 4) Plastic if there's no recycling program
I agree I wish all stores would quit using plastic bags! Some places are actually banning the use of free plastic bags in grocery stores, including California and China and many others are discussing it such as Washington State, Virginia and Canada, but unfortunately this is not happening fast enough everywhere. Many grocery stores offer recycling for plastic bags. But bringing a reusable canvas or cotton bag is by far the best option. If your grocery store does not offer recycling of plastic bags you should get in touch with the corporate office and insist that they do and also insist that they sell reusable bags as well. Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Winn-Dixie all offer recycling and sell reusable bags.
I ask myself this question each time I go to the store and have not figured out the answer - I often believe it's partly laziness (people don't want to be in charge of having to bring their own bag; all you have to do is keep them in your car) and part ignorance. I use my own bag every time I go...if you are a recycler you can get a small or medium size trash can and put your recycling in that; it doesn't have to be in a plastic bag. It also depends on if you have a recycling program where you live...luckily the city provides us with a large bin just for recycling. Basically, if everyone would just invest $10 in fabric bags ( organic cotton would be ideal) for their groceries the amount of plastic bags that litter the streets and end up in our oceans would decrease more than one can imagine. Besides, you can use these bags for other things too (overnighters, carrying other goods, beach trips, picnics, etc.
