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posted by martyb on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the tree-huggers-may-be-surprised dept.

AlterNet reports

It's a basic question faced by millions of shoppers every day: paper or plastic? Making the best choice for the environment, however, is less simple.

Last November, Californians approved Proposition 67, which upheld a 2014 ban on the issuing of single-use plastic bags in grocery and drug stores. As a result, shops were able to continue charging customers around a dime for reusable plastic or paper bags. The ban seems effective because it should lead to a reduction in plastic waste. More importantly, the extra charge aims to incentivize people to bring their own reusable bags to the store. But let's face it, many shoppers still forget, which brings us back to that darn choice we often have to make at the checkout line.

So, which option is better?

[...]The U.K. Environment Agency, a governmental research group, conducted a similar inquiry around the same time period. Its report[PDF] was a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of a variety of grocery bags. From extensive research, some of the study's key findings concluded that:

  • Single-use plastic bags outperformed all alternatives, even reusable ones, on environmental performance.
  • Plastic bags have a much lower global warming potential.
  • The environmental impact of all types of bag is dominated by the resource use and production stages. Transport, secondary packaging, and end-of-life management generally have minimal influence on their performance.
  • Whatever type of bag is used, the key to reducing the impacts is to reuse it as many times as possible.

The ecological break-even point with a cloth grocery bag comes on its 131st use.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by tyler on Thursday January 19 2017, @10:35AM

    by tyler (6335) on Thursday January 19 2017, @10:35AM (#455986) Homepage

    I like the Costco way of reusing using boxes that merchandise shipped in. The merchandise is going to be shipped in the box regardless, the box is going to be recycled or thrown in the trash either way, so might as well save a bunch of bags and reuse those boxes. ALDI just puts your stuff back in the cart and lets you figure out what to do with it. Some of them leave you shipping boxes, all of them sell bags, but won't suggestively sell them or give them to you.

    The best answer is to buy less stuff. Buying less stuff means less materials extracted from the environment, less energy refining and processing them, less energy manufacturing the stuff, less energy shipping it, less materials packaging it that also goes through this process. It also means more money in your pocket for other things or an earlier retirement. There are whole online communities of people retiring early by simple not consuming is much. The great thing is, you don't have to deprive yourself either, you just have to change your mindset a bit and be honest with yourself.

    Here a few of many sites, blogs, and forums about the topic:

    www.mrmoneymustache.com
    earlyretirementextreme.com
    frugalwoods.com
    livingafi.com
    bravenewlife.com

    A great book that will help with the mindset part is: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @04:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @04:03PM (#456084)

    Another great way to get into that mindset is when you have to choose between literally starving or making next month's rent if you can't figure it out.

    • (Score: 1) by tyler on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:25PM

      by tyler (6335) on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:25PM (#456110) Homepage

      If you are in that much of a financial pickle, post a case study on forum.mrmoneymustache.com

      No guarantees, but if you follow some of the advice, you will most likely be better off than you were. You will have to be willing to make some changes, but they aren't necessarily deprivation when you get to the root of your spending. It may sound surprising, but the changes have a good chance to improve your general happiness and quality of life. The book I recommend covers this in great depth.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @08:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @08:23PM (#456200)

    reusing using boxes

    Slow down, Cowboy.
    Take a moment to proofread before clicking Submit.

    Yeah, I've been doing this for years.
    No bags to tear/flop over at inopportune times.

    After finding some boxes that are just the right dimensions for me, I took some other boxes, cut them up, and used that to double up the sides/bottom of the dimensionally-ideal boxes.
    A little Moo Glue to keep everything in place and I'm still using those boxes many, many months later.

    My first job was at a grocery store.
    That was so long ago that the store had an incinerator where the boxes were BURNED.
    Today, there are folks who make their living by collecting and recycling cardboard boxes.

    ALDI

    We recently got one of those grocery stores in an adjacent suburb.
    Their weekly mailer had a bunch of items at impressive prices, so I went a bit off my usual beaten path to shop there.
    The concept is quite brilliant.
    It's like they only carry items on which they can get a GREAT price.

    [The ALDI cashier] just puts your stuff back in the cart and lets you figure out what to do with it

    The area between the checkout and the exit is a table-like shelf where you can take your time and package your purchases.
    To help assure that the shopping carts stay in ALDI's parking lot, they -don't- have those locking-wheels thingies (which require batteries and a RF antenna around the perimeter of the lot). There is instead a gadget on each cart that allows the carts to be chained together.
    To get your cart, you insert a quarter into the gadget.
    To get your quarter back, bring the cart back where you got it and hook up the chain thingie again.

    The place is pretty brilliant.
    It's as if the folks who thought it up had actually WORKED in a grocery store.

    buy less stuff

    ...and when you need stuff, see if you can get it second-hand for pennies on the dollar.
    My folks grew up in The Great Depression.
    They were also involved with WWII rationing.
    I was infused with frugality from birth.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by dry on Friday January 20 2017, @02:59AM

      by dry (223) on Friday January 20 2017, @02:59AM (#456349) Journal

      I thought all stores pretty well used the chain together method while charging a Loonie here to encourage you to bring them back.
      The grocery store I usually shop at, sells (and sometimes gives away) plastic bins, basically the same as the ones you carry around the shop if you don't need a buggy. Works well, they fit nicely in the buggy, you empty them at one end of the cashier, and refill them at the other end, put them in the trunk of the car, carry them into the house and put your groceries away. Last close to forever, easy to clean, much better then any type of bag.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:14AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:14AM (#456381)

        I thought all stores pretty well used the chain-together method

        It was the first time I've seen it. Imagine that.

        The grocery store nearest to me just got a new owner and a total revamp.
        They chain their shopping carts together at closing time--but it's one giant chain and it takes an employee to do that.
        I still saw one of their carts away from their lot.

        Now, see, you folks have figured out how to use the cheapest, lowest technology to get the job done--and effectively.

        The nitwits here are like magpies: fascinated by the newest shiny thing they see.

        The thingies we have are in 1 of the 4 wheels of each cart.
        It's a battery-operated radio receiver and a battery-operated pawl gadget that locks the wheel as you approach the perimeter of the lot.
        If the battery is dead, then, of course, the thingie doesn't work and you can take the cart anywhere you like.

        They also have to use a cutting disk to make a trench around the perimeter of the lot to embed the RF antenna.
        Kinda like the inductive sensors at traffic lights.

        Just imagine the purchase price of all of that stuff--as well as upkeep costs.
        Just nuts.
        Reminds me of the story about the USA's zero-g space pen.
        (The story goes that the Rooskies just used pencils.)

        [personal] plastic bins [...] refill them at the other end

        Makes way too much sense, dude.

        a Loonie

        Ah. A Canuck.
        Send some of your smart guys down here.
        We need them badly.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:11AM

          by dry (223) on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:11AM (#456814) Journal

          Part of it is probably that a dollar is harder to write off then 2 bits, though when grocery stores first implemented the chain together thing, they did only require a quarter.