I'm not convinced about reusable grocery bags

[RobinFinderson]

Faith, that goody-two-shoes, naturally converted to reusable grocery bags about one year before the rest of the country, so our have been pretty well used now. Unfortunately, a couple of them are starting to fall apart. One has a broken strap, making it unusable for anything but the lightest groceries until I find the time to break out the sewing machine to mend a grocery bag.

I'm not convinced that these bags are better for the environment than those super-duper-thin plastic bags, that weigh next to nothing. The total energy investment in one of those flimsy bags has got to be close to nil. The reusables are pretty substantial. I am not convinced that:

Plastic Bags(EnergyInvestment/1use) > Reusable Bags(Energy Investment / total number of uses before becoming unusable).

I'm just guessing numbers, but the energy investment of a sewn, woven material, heavy reusable bag might be 1000x that of a nearly weightless machine-made piece of plastic film. Assuming 1000x the energy investment, and weekly shopping trips, the break-even point computes as follows:

Plastic Bag (1 Energy Unit/ 1use) = Reusable (1000 Energy Units/? number of uses)

? = 1000 uses, or 1000 weeks.

1000 weeks = about 19 years.

No reusable grocery bag is going to last 19 years.

Of course my 1000x number could be way off. Lets assume that the average reusable grocery bag has a working lifespan of 3 years/157 weeks (I think I'm being generous... ours look terrible after 2 years). Then solving for the multiplier:

Plastic Bag(1 energy unit/ 1 use) = Reusable (? energy units / 157).

Then to simply break even after three years, the reusable bag can ONLY Contain 157x the invested energy as the plastic bag. Just weighing the material alone, the reusable could conceivably weigh more than 100x the plastic bag, and that is before considering the energy investment of fabrication (far more complex for a sewn bag).

Considering how gross the bags get over time, and considering my carelessness (I lose things) and the questionable environmental benefit of the reusable, I will avoid purchasing any new reusable grocery bags until I have seem a scientific study demonstrating their genuine environmental benefit. Until then, its plastic for me (which I recycle, 100% of the time, as a garbage bag).

[Uncle Ted]

Not to mention the health issues (including now lead poisoning) from using them.

[bluegoose]

Until then, its plastic for me (which I recycle, 100% of the time, as a garbage bag).

Hmmm. Very thoughtful post, Robin. Thanks for taking the time to type it up. Although I'm not sure how MOFOE would feel about it. Do they have their tenets made available for the public to reference?

Regarding the sentence that I hi-lighted (hi-lit?), our local recyclery has specifically asked that we DO NOT recycle those flimsy plastic bags. They get caught in the sorting machines and cause a lot of damage. You may want to investigate this. It may give you more reason to stick with the reuseables.

We've been using those reuseable bags for years as well. The Costco ones are our faves. 75 pounds in those babies. My mom could have carried me around in one of them through the 7th grade.

[creekster]

My mom could have carried me around in one of them through the 7th grade.

DId you harbor a secret wish to be a kangaroo?

[RobinFinderson]

Not to mention the health issues (including now lead poisoning) from using them.

Yep, that was the article that got me thinking about all of this.

Also, since I recycle my plastic bags by using them as garbage bags throughout my house (thus saving me from having to buy garbage bags), I actually get TWO uses out of them, a fact that essentially doubles all of the break-even values for the reusable bag.

[creekster]

Yep, that was the article that got me thinking about all of this.

Also, since I recycle my plastic bags by using them as garbage bags throughout my house (thus saving me from having to buy garbage bags), I actually get TWO uses out of them, a fact that essentially doubles all of the break-even values for the reusable bag.

then how do you recycle them? You mean you fill them with garbage and then throw it all away? which sends them to the landfill right away, right? Or do you mean to say you fill them with garbage and then empty them into the trash and put the now twice used bag into the recycling bin? I doubt many people who use them as a garbage bag do it in the second method I described.

[bluegoose]

DId you harbor a secret wish to be a kangaroo?

I wonder if marsupial knows how much those Costco bags will hold. She also has several small children.

[RobinFinderson]

Regarding the sentence that I hi-lighted (hi-lit?), our local recyclery has specifically asked that we DO NOT recycle those flimsy plastic bags. They get caught in the sorting machines and cause a lot of damage. You may want to investigate this. It may give you more reason to stick with the reuseables.

By 'recycle,' as I just noted, I simply mean that I use them a second time as light-duty garbage bags. That second use cuts the energy investment/uses in half, and basically doubles the total performance requirement of the reusable.

[RobinFinderson]

then how do you recycle them? You mean you fill them with garbage and then throw it all away? which sends them to the landfill right away, right? Or do you mean to say you fill them with garbage and then empty them into the trash and put the now twice used bag into the recycling bin? I doubt many people who use them as a garbage bag do it in the second method I described.

By 'recycle them' I simply mean that I use them a second time, and yes, I throw them away when I do that. Again, even though throwing them into the landfill might seem like a totally wasteful 'use,' that second use mathematically doubles their utility, which in turn increases the likelihood that the reusable is actually the worse choice.

[creekster]

By 'recycle,' as I just noted, I simply mean that I use them a second time as light-duty garbage bags. That second use cuts the energy investment/uses in half, and basically doubles the total performance requirement of the reusable.

Sort of. Only to your own personal accounting. You can claim to have lowered your own footprint but that is about it. It does nothing to decrease demand for the product at the store, which demand is what drives their production and you could easily avoid using them at all by simply having no liners in your trash cans (and being more careful where you dispose of messy waste).

[bluegoose]

By 'recycle,' as I just noted, I simply mean that I use them a second time as light-duty garbage bags. That second use cuts the energy investment/uses in half, and basically doubles the total performance requirement of the reusable.

Gotcha. I get plastic bags when I make quick trips to the store. They are nice for those times that I take the dog for a run in the morning. You can imagine how cumbersome those Costco bags can be carrying them around when he does his business a half mile into a 6 mile run.

[creekster]

as an aside, notice how the californians are chatting about this? Maybe because of west coast time, but also, I think, becasue we tend to think abtuo it more. I was in NY this week and had breakfast one mronign at an Au Bon Pain on the way to a meeting and when I asked where I could recycle the glass bottle my juice purchase was in, the guy laughed at me and said "just throw it away." He then laughed again and walked away. I felt the mocking scorn of at least three black clad artistas as I tossed it in the trash.

[creekster]

BTW, we aort of do a hybriod. we use the plastic bags for trash liners in the kitchen but go without elsewhere in the house. Anything wet goes to the kitchen.

[Jeff Lebowski]

By 'recycle them' I simply mean that I use them a second time, and yes, I throw them away when I do that. Again, even though throwing them into the landfill might seem like a totally wasteful 'use,' that second use mathematically doubles their utility, which in turn increases the likelihood that the reusable is actually the worse choice.

Everyone should go tour a working landfill sometime on a windy day. The plastic shopping bags aren't filling up our landfills. Rather, it seems like most of them catch a gust of wind and take flight. One more reason you wouldn't want to live next to a landfill.

[creekster]

Everyone should go tour a working landfill sometime on a windy day. The plastic shopping bags aren't filling up our landfills. Rather, it seems like most of them catch a gust of wind and take flight. One more reason you wouldn't want to live next to a landfill.

Your observation is spot on. My only addition is that if they do so, make sure the approach it from the upwind side. This is very important.