Earth Bags

We all now know that we should always take our earth bags with us to the grocery instead of the plastic bags provided at stores. Plastic bags were always a matter of cost savings for stores. Just as plastic soda bottles are a much inferior substitute to glass bottles, plastic bags much inferior substitute for paper bags. They hold less groceries and they cut into your hand when you are trying to carry them. They really are only good for moving the groceries from you cart to you car and then from you car to you kitchen pantry. If you have to walk home with your groceries or lug them on the bus God help you.

But the biggest rap against plastic bags is that they are an incredible nuisance. They are practically weightless and virtually frictionless. They strangle wildlife and have even been accused of choking whales. The response has not been swift but it has been growing in its intensity. Several localities have taken to outlawing the bags outright or taxing them.

Yes plastic shopping bags are one of the evils that have plagued my generation. But they are not in the category of nuclear weapons or polio. In the end the use of plastic bag will fade into memory but the actual plastic bags will be around for much much longer.

So the obvious Best Thing is to use your earth bag or to recycle the plastic bags.

But what if you are stuck without your earth bags and you are not near a recycling receptacle?

What is The Next Best Thing?

Fill the plastic bag with trash and then throw it an a refuse bin. The biggest problem about plastic bags is not that they will last basically forever. This is true of basically all petroleum based plastics. The problem with plastic bags is their tendency to leave the waste disposal system and flutter around the world at large. By weighting the plastic bag down by putting something inside it you greatly increase the chances that it will find its way to landfill where it will probably be mined by our petroleum bereft progeny.