Grocery shopping can be a taxing chore.
God forbid you come in hungry. You might as well open up your wallet and dump it in the toilet because your cart is about to be full with all the items that were not on your list.
But when you finally find yourself at the finish line, after three run-ins with old high school classmates and you're laying your chips, snacks and whatever else you might've been craving, on the conveyor belt, there's one thing that doesn't have to be hard or leave you feeling the level of indecisiveness you felt 15 minutes ago trying to decide between crunchy or puffy Cheetos.
Instead of having all your items packed away in a plastic bag, you could simply pull out your own reusable bag instead.
For some, this might seem like a simple switch. For others, it might seem like a real inconvenience.
But you know what the real inconvenience will be? When you're on vacation enjoying the ocean when what you think is a fish touches your leg but, SURPRISE, it's a plastic bag.
Because according to scientist this could be our reality by 2050, with the ocean containing more plastic then fish by that time if we continue at the rate we are now.
You might think to yourself, I'm only one person. What does it matter if I, Linda, out of the 7.66 billion people on Earth, decides to put my crunchy Cheetos in a plastic bag?
Well, I'll tell you why it matters, Linda, because there's probably about 7.60 billion people on Earth with that same mindset.
If we all approach sustainable alternatives with the mindset of, "I'm only one person, what does it matter what I do?"
Those numbers add up quickly and leave us with a whole lot of people thinking that them, only one person, isn't doing that much harm.
But you are, we all are.
If swimming with plastic isn't reason enough to switch from plastic to reusable bags, here's 5 more:
CostÂ
Some stores charge 5 cents or more per bag, which might seem cheap, but it adds up quick! Instead, you can invest in a reusable bag (there are many reasonably priced ones out there) that will last you for years!
DegradationÂ
A plastic bag sitting in a landfill can take up to a 1,000 years to properly degrade. ONE THOUSAND YEARS! Enough said.
EcosystemÂ
A plastic bag in the ocean can look like a yummy jellyfish for lunch for a sea turtle. Plastic bags often fly into trees, animal homes and the ocean. Sometimes animals try to eat these plastic bags, which leads to their death.
Multi-purposeÂ
Whether you keep your reusable bag in your purse, car or in your house, you automatically have another bag you can throw your clothes or anything else in! Your reusable bag can be used for many things, not just to carry groceries.
More EfficientÂ
When you're checking out at the grocery store, it's a lot easier with a reusable bag. The bags can be bigger which allows for more space and less trips back and forth to car when you're unloading and you don't have to worry about your bag tearing through the thin weak plastic.
Switching to reusable bags is a no brainer. It saves you money over time, helps the ecosystem, more efficient and best of all is just better overall for our environment!
We'll be here for awhile, if we take care of it, so make the easy switch to help make it a better place.
