Trend toward bringing reusable totes to store catches on with shoppers
By Blanca Torres
Judith Morton fits the profile of an eco-friendly consumer: She worries about depleting natural resources, she recycles when she can, and she has three or four canvas shopping bags sitting at home.
Despite her good intentions, Morton's reusable shopping bags rarely leave her house, meaning that she still accumulates dozens of flimsy plastic grocery bags.
"I'm conflicted," the Lafayette resident said while buying food at a local Safeway. "Plastic bags don't biodegrade, but paper bags are made from trees, and here I am in a store shopping without my own (reusable) bag."
Like many consumers, Morton wants to do the right thing and stop taking disposable bags home from grocery stores, but she has not made a habit of using reusable bags.
While thousands of shoppers have shifted to BYOB -- bring your own bag -- in lieu of answering the old "paper or plastic" question, many consumers struggle to make the switch.
"Our biggest concern with reusable bags is that people will get them and not use them," said Vincent Cobb, founder and president of Reusablebags.com, a Chicago-based Web site that promotes and sells reusable bags. "You're not going to fix the problem overnight. We've been programmed to shop this way. What's hard is not giving up."
Reusable shopping bags, once confined to dull canvas styles, have been around for years, but their use gained more traction in the past year as the anti-plastic movement turned into the environmental trend du jour.
Plastic bags come rife with problems: They are made of petroleum, they do not biodegrade in landfills, they seem to multiply like weeds inside kitchen cupboards, and they end up in rivers and oceans, where wildlife mistake them for food.
"Most people have heard plastic bags are bad for the environment and wildlife, but most people have switched to paper," said Stephanie Pruegel, a senior associate at Gigantic Idea Studio Inc., a social marketing firm based in Oakland. "It seems that making the switch to reusable bags is a bigger step."
Many consumers think they are helping the Earth by reusing plastic bags as trash can liners or to pick up their pet's waste. What they do not realize is that those bags end up creating pollution.
Paper bags also have drawbacks because of the natural resources and transportation costs involved in producing them. Some people consider them a better choice than plastic because they are biodegradable, but that argument frequently is refuted.
"There's a misconception that biodegradable material breaks down in landfills," said Shana McCracken, a spokeswoman for Gigantic Idea Studio. "Because of the engineering of modern landfills, it takes a very long time for anything, even organic material, to biodegrade."
Awareness of the shopping bag dilemma has heightened along with concerns for other green issues, said Valerie Davis, chief executive of EnviroMedia, an Austin, Texas-based social marketing agency.
Much of that interest has been spurred by Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and the United Nations' report on global climate change.
Interjecting the environment into popular culture, Davis said, has prompted many consumers to examine how their everyday decisions affect the environment.
"The point is not that shouldn't get any disposable bags," Cobb said. "Just reduce consumption and reuse every one that you get."
Bringing your own bag is a common practice in other countries, and some even have banned plastic bags. In 2002, Ireland created a "plastax," or tax that dramatically reduced the use of plastic bags.
"In Germany, it's much more the norm to bring your own bag even though you can get plastic bags at the store," said Prugel, who is a native of Germany. "In this country, taking a plastic bag is the norm, so if you bring your bag, you're the odd one out. No one wants to go against the current."
In the summer, San Francisco implemented a ban on plastic bags at large grocery stores, and the state of California enacted a law requiring some retailers, depending on size, to stop giving out plastic bags, set up recycling bins and sell reusable bags in their stores.
Many retailers have changed their policies to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags.
Swedish home goods retailer Ikea started charging 5 cents for disposable plastic bags last year, and it donates some of those revenues to American Forests, a nonprofit organization that advocates for planting trees and restoring forests.
Last month, Whole Foods announced it would stop offering plastic bags by Earth Day, April 22, and continue its practice offering 5- to 10-cent discounts for every reusable bag shoppers bring.
The grocer said it will still offer paper bags made of 100 recycled materials.
Whole Foods said its decision is partly based on the fact that such a small percent of the 100 billion plastic bags Americans throw away each year are recycled.
Numerous chains including Pleasanton-based Safeway, Target, Oakland-based Cost Plus World Market, Half Price Books, Costco, Save Mart and Walnut Creek-based Longs Drugs have begun selling reusable shopping bags imprinted with their store logos. Most of the bags come in a simple tote bag style made of a variety of materials ranging from plastic to canvas.
Save Mart, which operates stores under its name as well as Lucky grocery and Food Maxx, sells reusable bags made of thick plastic for 25 cents. The retailer encourages customers to recycle the bags once they wear out, and it offers shoppers a 5-cent discount every time they bring one.
"We have been working hard to educate customers on how much more effective, efficient and environmentally sound our new reusable bag is, though it is made out of plastic and a natural first reaction is that it isn't a better bag for that reason," said Alicia Rockwell, a Save Mart spokeswoman.
Shoppers often see the reusable bags when they walk in the store or stand in line to check out. Other shoppers prefer bags that do not have store logos on them, Cobb said, because it seems like a form of free advertising.
"Your reusable bag doesn't have to be boring," said Audrey Robertson, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based The Container Store. "They can be fun and reflective of your style. They can have great color and design."
The retailer carries a nylon shoulder bag that compacts down into a palm-size pouch and comes in different colors and floral patterns.
Sales of the bag, priced at $7.99, quadrupled last year during the holiday season, when people bought them for stocking stuffers. A few months later, some colors are frequently out of stock on the company's Web site.
The Container Store recently added a canvas version with "One Less Bag" printed on one side in green or blue lettering; it sells for $4.99.
"We've seen the increased awareness that this is an option," Robertson said. "There's all the talk of what one person can do to make an impact, and choosing reusable bags absolutely falls into that list."
Reusablebags.com offers about 150 varieties of bags, including the classic canvas totes for $6, trendy patterned bags for $19 and bags made of recycled materials such as juice containers for $24.
High-end designers and labels also provide alternatives such as the $960 Silky Pop bag from Hermes, a silk tote that folds down into a leather wallet with a silver-plated zipper.
"It's a fashion trend," Davis said. "Now, carrying a reusable bag instead of plastic is very fashionable."
Even when consumers invest in a set of reusable totes, they may fall into Morton's pattern of forgetting them at home or in the trunk.
"People don't think before they consume," Cobb said. "It's not just about the product concept itself. These bags have to work really well on multiple levels. It has to look good, and it has to be very functional. Do you need a compact one that you have for running errands, or do you need one that is grocery bag-style?"
For A.J. Tolland of Berkeley, making the switch to taking his groceries home in reusable shopping bags was simple: His girlfriend was tired of plastic bags collecting in their home.
"We used to have a drawer just for plastic bags," he said. "And we have a small kitchen."
So, Tolland was happy to invest in four green totes for 99 cents from Berkeley Bowl. In the year he has been using them, the bags have no signs of wear and tear.
"It's a breeze," he said. "The environmental stuff is a bonus, but I'm not going to try to fool myself about the impact I have on the Earth. I still drive a car. I mostly do it because it's more efficient."
Unlike consumers such as Tolland, many Americans do not take the time to examine how efficiently they consume.
Americans often buy out of habit, not necessity, Cobb said, and that leads to overconsumption and waste.
"You have to think about every purchase," he said. "You can get anything that you want everywhere, so the challenge is getting the right thing that you are going to use and love."
He advises consumers to learn to say "no" to disposable bags and remember that if they do take one home, they should reuse or recycle it right away instead of letting them pile up.
"I don't think we'll ever have a world where we don't use plastic bags or plastics," Davis said. "But everyone can work to reduce their consumption to a minimum."
toting green
Disposable Bags in the United States, 2006
Paper
Total: 1,340,000 tons
Discarded: 1,000,000 tons, 74.6 percent
Recycled: 340,000 tons, 25.4 percent
Plastic
Total: 4,630,000 tons
Discarded: 4,270,000 tons, 92.2 percent
Recycled: 360,000 tons, 7.8 percent
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
