I sure love saving the Earth, don't you? Considering how many reusable bags I've accumulated at this stage in my seasoned greenie life, it seems as though I've singlehandedly rescued our planet as well as the Moon and a sizable portion of Mars, too. Bags, bags, bags...peeking out of every conceivable corner of my life, taunting me with their long-term practicality and pocket-worthy convenience. Totable pouches to hold things-n-stuff. Quite a lot of them are constructed from ripstop nylon, others are made with recycled PVC nylon, and then there are a handful of canvas versions and an entire series of homemade rainy day totes born out of old t-shirts and vintage sheets. Who knew that adopting several hundred reusable bags could help me rise to such an awesome shade of green? To be honest, though, I'm not the type of person who rests on my laurels...and if I am offered just one more reusable bag, whether in person or surreptitiously through the mail, I think that I may actually self combust.
Thin, one-time-use plastic sacks have definitely been banished from my life, but instead, I've been doing the backstroke through a sea of motley materials posing as planet friendly feel good shopping abettors. I've accumulated so many of them by now -- whether purchased intentionally or acquired via free promotions, redeemed box tops or other means -- that in addition to the spinal curvature I've developed from the weight of them all (as I drag them behind me into the store), I am off-gassing every room in my house, car, and pocketbook. Inhale the air over your own pile of handy-dandy reusable bags and you'll see what I mean. Beyond that, I can't help but recognize the absolute ridiculousness of it all -- one person does not need such an insane volume of holding devices!! While it's bad enough that I've inadvertently ended up littering my own household, the last thing that I want to do is purge my life of these clautrophobia-inducing bags just by chucking them in the garbage -- that would totally defeat their purpose.
Maybe I appreciate minimalism a little more than I ever imagined...and yet with each passing week, I find another unsolicited bag in my mailbox, adding to my mounting collection of different colored-branded-PET-woven-canvas contraptions. Yes, I've attempted to pawn them off on friends and relatives and complete strangers, every one of them looking at me with stupified horror...for they, too, are suffering from the same vexing issue. I've even been known to resort to desperate measures...circling my neighborhood grocery store with this motley array of mismatched reusable bags looped on my arms. Despite "accidentally on purpose" leaving 5o or so of them in random shopping carts out in the parking lot (over and over and over again), there is always at least one citizen with shining honesty and good intentions triumphantly tapping me on the shoulder just seconds before I've made my ill-fated getaway. This bag lady would gladly like to cross paths with a canvas-casing hoodlum right about now.
Posted by Juan Levy - August 05, 2009 11:03 AM
Your post about the reusable bags is very funny (and, as usual with your entries, Elizah, a good read!) but it speaks to a recurring thought of mine.
I OFTEN POP INTO THE MARKET AT A TIME WHEN I DON'T HAVE A REUSABLE BAG WITH ME!
Many of you may know ZipCar or, here in Philadelphia, the wonderful PhillyCarShare. The concept is very elegant. Reduce the number of cars in the city by increasing the utilization of each car. And it works by issuing to every member a key fob that unlocks every car in the system, deactivates the kill-switch and tracks one's usage.
Similarly, I have been thinking about a BagShare program. Each of BagShare member would get a fob that could be swiped at a machine at any participating merchant, allowing the member to "borrow" a reusable bag. The system would record the borrowing of the bag and debit the member's account by a bag. At some time when, as you, the member cannot move around their dwelling anymore without knocking over a pile of reusable bags (but hopefully a lot sooner!), the member can return the "borrowed" bag to a merchant's location, swiping the fob and getting credited for each bag returned. If the member doesn't return the bags, the member ends up owning them.
One structural problem with this concept---the second "R" of the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra---is that stores like Whole Foods now MAKE MONEY on the sale of the reusable bags! At a Philadelphia City Council hearing a few month ago considering the now-defeated ban on single-use plastic bags, a representative of Whole Foods explained that their reusable bags have become collectors' items and have even sold on eBay!
However, I, as a consumer, would be willing to pay a small monthly fee to a BagShare program for the convenience of being able to get my shopping done, guilt-free, whenever I can fit it in, whether I have a bag with me or not! And I would favor retailers who adopted the system and made it possible.
Posted by Elizah Leigh - August 05, 2009 01:59 PM
Hey Juan,
Thanks so much for reading and appreciating...I must say that your BagShare idea could be exactly what our society needs. I'm tempted to delete your comment so that you can protect your concept and get it moving along.
Where and how would you even begin? I guess you'd have to design BagShare kiosks first and foremost -- you're an architect, right? Architects and designers (I think) are cut from the same cloth, so it could be a pretty "easy" task for you and maybe even a little fun. Convincing the majority of vendors to keep your machines on their premises shouldn't be too challenging. Even the Whole Foods of the world who make major ka-ching selling their reusable bags could still profit -- there are going to be so many people who will be too lazy to walk over to your BagShare kiosk and just cough up the cash for a few bags at the checkout.
I think that your idea will take care of the gaps currently present in the system. If you are interested in having a junior conceptualization team member to join you in this endeavor, please let me know! Seriously though, you should pursue this!
Posted by Greening Journey - August 07, 2009 08:48 PM
Check this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7alw4RN5c
The Greening Journey Expo
November 28, 2009 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
November 29, 2009 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center
Punta Gorda, Florida
http://www.thegreeningjourney.com/
Posted by Elizah Leigh - August 07, 2009 09:41 PM
This is fantastic -- are you the coordinator of this bag to pocketbook project? Would you consider throwing together a blog post offering information on why and how it got started? I'm going to post your video now to help spread the word! Love it!