Canvas or Plastic Grocery Bags?

Canvas grocery bags have recently been making an appearance at the entrance to many grocery stores, selling for about $2 per bag. We know that plastic bags are bad for the environment, but are stores really trying to be more environmentally friendly, or are they just trying to get their customers to buy something else? Are canvas bags really more efficient than plastic bags?

When it comes to your budget, in some countries it’s better to bring your own bag than to rely on the plastic bags the stores give you. Some places charge for the bags themselves. Ireland has put a customer tax on their plastic bags.

On the other hand, the United States is more dependent on their cars than some other countries. When customers walk, ride a bike, or take public transport to the grocery store, they tend to buy fewer items at once, although they might visit more often.

In the United States, with our abundance of large vehicles and long distances, shoppers tend to visit the grocery store just a couple of times per month and buy large quantities at once. For this kind of shopping, is it practical to use canvas bags when one shopping trip alone can garner more than a dozen of the plastic bags?

Yet, we still know that canvas is better for the environment. Some cities in the United States are now making laws to try to curb our plastic habit. San Francisco recently passed a law making it illegal for large grocery stores to use plastic bags. As an alternative, they offer biodegradable paper bags. Boston is also considering doing this, although some customers allege that doing this causes a new kind of problem with the environment-the cutting down of trees.

However, most shoppers report that they have made the switch to canvas bags and feel good about themselves. They say that it’s rewarding to feel as if they are doing their part in “going green.”

Even though many plastic bags end up clogging drains, piled in the landfill, and flying helter-skelter through the streets during a gusty day, some people have found other ways to use the bags, even though less than 3% are recycled. You can always use them to line small garbage cans instead of buying a large box of garbage bags or use them to line cat littler boxes.

For those who prefer the canvas bags, the argument exists that the plastic bags in stores are now being made of a poorer quality and aren’t as sturdy as the canvas bags. Plastic bags generally have to be doubled for heavy or awkward purchases and can often rip on the corners of boxes. Canvas bags can generally hold heavier items.

Although paper bags were used in the past, they were often cumbersome and awkward since they didn’t have handles and customers could rarely carry more than one at a time. The canvas bags, at least, have handles like the plastic bags do, allowing customers to sling a few over their arms.

If customers don’t want to purchase a canvas bag at the grocery store, they can always find them online or in other shops. There are many websites that sell canvas grocery bags and they can usually be personalized as well.

Some bags found online also come with shoulder straps, as well as handles, making them great to use when walking some distance.

Switching to canvas bags might take some readjusting on the shopper’s part. An idea is to make several small trips to the store instead of one or two large trips. Or, shoppers can just buy several canvas bags to use every time they go.

An advantage of the canvas bags is that even though they tend to cost about $2 per bag, they last a long time. If shoppers use them properly, they should last about six months. They can also be washed and some are made from recycled materials.

For now, using the canvas bags is mostly a choice on the shopper’s part. However, if more laws are passed in the future, it might not be up to the customer which type of bag they use. For that reason, it might be wise to go ahead and start getting used to the canvas.

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