In light of the plastic bag versus cloth bag issue, I admit that I am probably one of the people among many who abuse the use of plastic bags. I don't just throw away most of them. When I had a cat, I would reuse the plastic bags to throw away her litter. Now I have a toddler and a preschooler. I go around and reuse the plastic bags to empty trashcans around the house from wet and soiled diapers. What bags I don't use, I place in the recycling bin.
I could go all together, without these wonderful plastic bags. I wonder what would happen if everyone stopped using these convenient vessels. There is so much petroleum put into these bags. I am not an expert in what goes into making each of these bags (that would be a great research topic for a future article). I am just speculating that we would save a lot of petroleum that could be used elsewhere - - like in conserving some of our oil and gas resources, and helping us stay away from middle eastern sources. Like I said, I am not an expert, and anyone can educate myself and others on what an impact (or lack thereof) this would make.
What would make it much more easier for me to convert to cloth bags would be an in-your-face marketing of these products. I haven't seen them anywhere where I would be thinking about buying them or needing them. Why don't they sell them in the supermarket? They could have bundles to buy. If you're a single person, who only uses about 2 bags during a typical shopping trip, you could buy them individually to fit your needs. If you're a couple, you might use about 5 bags on an average shopping trip. They could have a couple pack for the newleyweds and roommates, etc. If you're a small family maybe 7 to 10 bags would be ideal - - hence, the small family bundle. If you're a medium sized family...Well, you get the picture. Marketing research could be done to see what the best numbers would be. I think the more in-your-face the marketing is, the better. It's kind of like what happens when I'm waiting in line at WalMart, and I see the dog toys at the checkout line. I buy one for our dog, because it's there and it's in my mind. I think that's what end-cap marketing is all about, too. Am I right? The other day I needed aluminum foil. How convenient it was to see it on the end-cap. I went ahead and put the product into my cart without going down the aisle where they would be, because it's easier on me when I have 2 kids in the cart.
It's not that I don't want to use cloth bags. About once a week, I take my girls to the library. I used to use the plastic bags that they'd offer for free. Then the handles would break after a couple of trips. I foraged through a stash of things I'd forgotten about in our coat closet. There I found a cloth bag that was given to me free from a workshop for legal education. Now I bring that with me to the library every week. What we can fit into the bag, we check out. What we can't fit into the bag, we leave behind to check out on a future visit. It works. Don't get me going even further. I think there are several articles being harvested from this topic that I could do...