Green, green bags

Green canvas is the way to go...

It has been two weeks since I shook off the dust that had settled on the green canvas bags I bought months ago, and put them to use. Made for grocery shopping, these bags are the ultimate alternative to environmentally unfriendly plastic bags.

The first time I took them to the grocers, it surprised me just how many things could fit into the bag. There is RM200 worth of groceries in the bags pictured above, including a bag of rice. It sure beat having to carry so many plastic bags from cashier to car.

I saw one or two other people using similar bags and I couldn't help but be thrilled at the prospect that one day soon, plastic bags will no longer be de riguer, and everyone will be toting these bags around.

The bags are inexpensive too. Giant sells their own version now for just RM2.45 each if I remember correctly and I got mine at Bangsar Village for just RM1.50 each with every purchase of RM30.00 and above.

This is one way to reduce our footprint on the environment... use less plastic bags. Plastic bags take hundreds of years to degrade once they are thrown out. When it goes out to the land fill all it does is just sit there for hundreds of years.

What do we use to throw out our rubbish if we don't bring home plastic bags? TMC and Giant sell biodegradable garbage bags at affordable prices which is the way to go. I have also found that since we started recycling and separating our waste, we throw away less which means less garbage bags or plastic bags are used each day.

All it takes is one baby step at a time. So easy, so inexpensive, yet so impactful.