Daily Detox: B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag)

We all know plastic bags are an environmental evil. I’ve somehow grown up knowing this yet here we are still passing out plastic at the grocery store for temporary use. For those of you who read Daily Tomorrow regularly you might know I currently reside in Germany. What you may not know is that German grocery stores don’t hand out plastic bags - you’ve got to bring your own or buy (a reusable) one at checkout, period.

Big environmental impact:

Sierra Club: Somewhere in the northern Pacific floats a non-biodegradable petrochemical blob that’s twice the size of Texas. Much of this deadly mess originated when someone innocently took home their shopping in a plastic bag. In the U.S. alone, we throw away 100 billion plastic bags each year — the equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil. Yikes!

I would post a picture of what plastic bags do to turtles but honestly I can’t stomach it and I’ll have nightmares. What I can do is let you know that life goes on beyond plastic grocery bags. I’ve known this since before moving to Germany but know can firmly attest that society will not come to a screeching halt nor will grocery stores fill with angry mobs or wandering zombies who can’t figure out how to get their food home. Won’t happen.

Nope, just B.Y.O.B. - Bring Your Own Bag. Like these The Planet Bag or these Heavyweight Hemp/Organic Cotton Grocery Bags or these ECOBAGS. Personally I like to mix it up. For the shoulder carry, I have a hemp string stretchy bag that is as old as my bicycle and for the bicep curl I have a new canvas market tote - which I got by eating enough Swiss Bio Cheese and sending the labels. How’s that for eco-thrifty?

What’s not floating:

• Plastic left holding the bag as environmental plague at Common Dreams
• London councils push for plastic bag ban at The Guardian
• No More Plastic Bags (Video) at TreeHugger
• San Francisco Approves Plastic Bag Ban at MSNBC