My new love is reusable produce bags. By now you’ve probably started seeing these around town. As the eco-conscious community continues to expand so does awareness of the need to clean up this mess of an environmental wasteland.
So reusable produce bags are becoming increasingly more popular at the speed of my blinks. I mean I’m even seeing some of our seniors with these in the stores. Initially I didn’t know why, but I put my research hat on and learned about all the plastic filling up our landfills. Then I learned about the implementation of China’s ban on the import of waste. By then, I knew that I needed to do my part.
By simply choosing reusable bags I can be a boss bi#$%! The environmental impact of this simple gesture is enormous!
- Reduces carbon dioxide emissions
- Minimizes waste stream: less flooding, less water-borne disease and better sustainability for vulnerable communities.
- It’s way sustainable. Plastic bags are made from oil, which is a fossil fuel and a non-renewable resource.
- Saves wildlife. Discarded plastic bags and degraded plastic fragments damage wildlife and their habitats. An estimated 80 percent of plastic pollution enters the oceans from land. 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags every year, affecting over 267 species. On land birds often mistaken plastic shreds as a food source, eat it and die.
- Safeguards health of humanity. The manufacturing of plastic impacts our own health when the chemical compounds found in plastic bags are ingested.
- Decreases land pollution and environmental degradation. Plastic is not biodegradable. In fact, a plastic bag can take from 15 to 500 years to break down.
- Less waste. EPA reports that only 2% of plastic bags are recycled. Meanwhile,the rest live on indefinitely in landfills or decompose in our oceans, where they leech toxins into the water and soil.
- It’s hot af. By using one reusable produce bag you eliminate the use of 700 single-use plastic bags! For every one person that makes the change to reusable cotton produce bags, as many as 22,000 plastic bags are removed from the environment.
So I’ve shared with you why reusable produce bags are my new love. I’d say those are some damn sexy reasons to go reusable. Have you gone reusable yet?
