The first simple change I recommend making is buying some reuseable grocery bags. Did you know that it can take over 1,000 years for a plastic bag to biodegrade, and 97% of plastic bags end up in landfills? Paper is a better option than plastic because it will biodegrade faster, but it takes 1.4 trees to make 1000 bags. All of that is not even taking into consideration the amount of energy and fuel to make these products ( only for us to throw them away ). I purchased 4 bags from Fred Meyer for 99 cents each. They are a recycleable material so that when they do break down I can dispose of them properly. They are larger than you would think, too. I can fit into these four bags what I used to use about 7-9 plastic bags. Eventually they will pay for themselves at the checkout stand because I get 5 cents off of my bill for each bag used. If you are not using reuseable bags already, I highly recommend getting some. Next on my list of purchases is a produce bag so that I will not have to use the plastic bags in the produce section.
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WinCo and Safeway give bag credits, too...even if you don't use bags brought at their store. I have quite a collection of cloth bags, although it is a little weird to go into WinCo with a Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer, and Safeway bag. :)
Anyhoo, I was so tired of the paper and plastic bags since, even though I tried to reuse and recycle them, my family ends up with so many that I was always tripping over them. But now I have the opposite problem - I need a paper bag for something and I don't have any! :)
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