The Battle of the Reusable Shopping Bags
Whole Foods shopping bag carrying the usual fennel, radishes, and gun. Wait what? [wsj.com]
The Wall Street Journal is a little skeptical of reusable shopping bags. Just about every chain store seems to have their own custom-made tote, but which is the most functional? Stylish? And made of something you can't pronounce? The piece compares five of the biggest contenders: Whole Foods (features a tree design by Sheryl Crow), Ralphs (made of polypropylene), Target (too Target red-colored), 7-Eleven ("as chic as a Big Gulp"), Trader Joe's (if you're into acid-hued prints), and Dean & Deluca ("all style, no substance").
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26 Comments:
I made a rule where, if I forget a reusable bag, I have to buy a new one/ just carry anything I buy. So I have a lot. My favorite is the cloth one from Trader Joe's. I can stuff a lot in that thing.
KarynMC at 5:21PM on 09/13/09
I made four of them last year from scraps of fabric (about 1/2-3/4 yards needed for each bag) using a paper bag as a pattern. I got webbing at a craft store fore pretty cheap. I think I spent about $10 and an afternoon, but I always know which shopping cart is mine.
I refuse to buy the plastic ones since it seems silly to buy a plastic bag to replace a plastic bag. I still get paper bags if I'm at Whole Foods since I use them to put my paper out to recycle.
gingercookiewithlime at 5:46PM on 09/13/09
I absolutely love the bags from Bag the Habit. I use mine daily. It holds a lot of weight, has padding in the straps, and folds into itself into a pouch. http://bagthehabit.com/shop.html
rchip123 at 5:58PM on 09/13/09
Every disposable paper bag I take home and store is more carbon I sequester. So my goal is have a mountain of carbon in my home. They also are great for transporting stuff, draining fried food, and making jackets to protect books.
Somebody has to make up for carbon footprint from the production of these fancy reusable bags!
(grin)
peekpoke at 6:00PM on 09/13/09
I actually own the Sheryl Crow bag-- it was a Christmas present... Never would have bought it on my own though...
Ry Sal at 6:25PM on 09/13/09
I knit them from cotton yarn, and have some others that were gifts.
lemons at 6:39PM on 09/13/09
I happen to love the ones at Wegmans. I still have their original black bags, but I loved the food themed ones so much that I bought one of each. The first time I saw the tomato themed bag, I immediately wondered if JerzeeTomato had one. I know she loves her Wegmans too.
dhorst at 6:55PM on 09/13/09
@dhorst I work in plant breeding, specifically with tomatoes. I was ridiculously excited when I saw that bag for the first time :)
randomeater at 7:39PM on 09/13/09
I have the black Wegman's ones. I have not bought more even though if I see the tomato one I might. I have Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, A pink one for breast cancer month. Mostly I reuse boxes. When I go to Costco I grab fruit boxes, dole, grapes whatever they have that are waxed and they carry a lot of stuff. I fill the boxes and then we unload those and bring them into the house. I find things do not get messed up that way.
JerzeeTomato at 8:28PM on 09/13/09
My first reusable came from my husband. He got it from a fabric wholesaler (he's an upholsterer) and it is burlap. It's for my vegetables. I have 3 insulated bags that I got from Costco and I have a nice fabric bag that my friend got from JC Penny's and gifted me. I see lots of people in Costo that like @Jerzee love the boxes. I would, too, but they are so hard to break down and I have miserable hands from arthritis. We live in a town that requires recycling and while I do that I try not to have too many boxes that have to go out. I don't always have someone around to help when it is time to pull the boxes apart and set it out.
janaatwg at 8:44PM on 09/13/09
I got this amazing canvas bag @ Target bout a year ago. It was 5bucks and fits a TON of evertthing. I leave the car, it's on my arm.
Can't stand plastic bags as they can suffocate ferrel cats, birds, -----,
without my going on a tangent.
donnie at 10:09PM on 09/13/09
Got mine in India for about 30 rupees (75 cents). It's served me well for five years now. I see no need to buy anything trendy. Mine is very sturdy, holds a ton, and has groovy wooden handles.
Dcarl1 at 11:12PM on 09/13/09
Loving my baggu bags. Tons of color choices and I am not a walking grocery store advertisement. Fold-able into a pouch for my purse.
TurkeyandPickles at 12:04AM on 09/14/09
Most of the ones I have came from trade shows where vendors hand out bags for you to carry all the brochures and stuff. Some are a little small, but that's fine to segregate the cleaning supplies or when I'm just picking up a few items. But it's funny when I'm at the grocery store and my bags say "Intel" or "Microsoft" instead of the name of a store. I've also got some from the local harware store that gives them away now and then, and from the local newspaper. Most of the bags I use were free with some promotion, though.
I do have a really nice big burlap bag from Sunflower Market. That's the one that I usually go to the farmer's market with, and then I take smaller bags to segregate different produce or keep the crushable stuff safely on top.
dbcurrie at 12:33AM on 09/14/09
I reuse doubled paper bag sets from the stores I frequent, each in designs they have not used in many years. Have been doing so a very long time -- well prior to when it was trendy / it was "green" / anyone else seemed to be doing it. Doubled bags last forever, and it is easy to glue the handles back on when they come off.
For the stores that have different bags at holiday time (often ones with child-drawn designs from the previous year's holiday bag contest, I have a set of these. A couple years ago, I had a bagger -- excuse me, courtesy clerk -- ask where I got it, as it was a design he had submitted as an 8-year-old in the mid '90s. Yes, I've had it that long...
Chou Peng Qart at 12:39AM on 09/14/09
Like KarynMC, we buy reusable bags on the offchance that we've forgotten ours. We currently have scads of the original Wegmans black bags and a couple of the Whole Foods cloth-papery ones. Unfortunately, our township doesn't have a recycling program, so we're avoiding paper bags until that's changed...
avaryne at 9:33AM on 09/14/09
i always forget them when i go grocery shopping, but am really good about using my 'book loft' tote for carting books back and forth to the library.
gastronomeg at 10:16AM on 09/14/09
I personally find this article by The Wall Street Journal extremely hypocrytical (and I'm not surprised from such a news source).
The "movement" is not only supposed to provide a more sustainable way to carry groceries (etc.) but to spread awareness of the issue surrounding wasting of plastics. Education!!!!
If the WSJ is so skeptical: how much "power" and "resources" did they use researching such a thing? Writing such an article???
As a principal: I have many of these bags--some of them are my favourites. My WWF bag is so durable AND its hot-pink :) I use it for everything. Some of them are pretty poor-quality but that doesn't mean that its pointless.
Every bit counts in my opinion. One less plastic bag clogging up the process :)
hungrychristel at 12:10PM on 09/14/09
I still use the plastic bags for trash and garbage. Does it make sense to buy them? I can honestly say that they are always recycled at my house.
Jeremiahc at 1:29PM on 09/14/09
That WSJ slideshow is offensive and stupid. It appears that some fashion editor decided it would be cute to do a spread mocking reusable bags in general, and showing them holding photoshopped-in items like guns, boxing gloves, a chainsaw, and a fire extinguisher. How very clever. I could not possibly care less whether my grocery bags are stylish or not.
McNormal at 1:39PM on 09/14/09
I have bags from a variety of shops and stores, but my ABSOLUTE favorites are from www.baggubag.com
All the other bags are bulky and have to be carried manually because of their size. I needed something strong, small and handy.
They fold very small and two easily fit into a purse of pocket. They are the strongest of any bag I've tried and come in a ton of colors. Eash time I give some one as a gift, everyone who see them wants them (so I've got some easy x-mas shopping ahead).
I LOVE them, so I thought I'd share.
CJ McD at 2:53PM on 09/14/09
I have a Portland Trailblazers reusable that's an easy cashier conversation starter.
pearce77 at 4:26PM on 09/14/09
@CJ baggu bags are all I use. I love those things. They are a million times better than those "store" bags, they look great, they carry 2x the amount as most other bags, they weigh nothing and they fold up nice and small. I've given them out as gifts also. People love them. They are the perfect reusable bag. I'm thinking of getting a couple of their small totes to carry my lunches in.
chisai at 9:04AM on 09/15/09
I'm a fan of the Ecobags.com bags, we have quite a few and they are really sturdy and hold a ton. You can get organic cotton for a little more $ too. We got a "kit" that included some of their stretchy string bags too, but I prefer the plain canvas ones. Plus, no logos! I'm not doing any free advertising, thanks.
rockandroller at 10:27AM on 09/15/09
Are plastic bins just a Canadian thing? In Southern Ontario we have a family of chains that each sell their own reusable bags, but also sell large plastic bins with tough handles on them. They are surprisingly easy to carry, Much easier to clean than the bags and most importantly, when I've talked to cashiers, they MUCH prefer loading them. The new reusable bags are often so tall that baggers are already reporting stress on their arms and shoulders. A few stores I've seen have retrofitted their conveyor belts so that they can lower and taller bags can be more safely loaded. But until that's everywhere, I look for the green option that doesn't hurt the workers.
I find unloading is also much easier because of the large surface area. Granted, if you have limited mobility, lifting them might be an issue, because they can hold an enormous amount of weight. I live in the burbs, and so use a car, but I know people use these to carry stuff on foot as well. I've ripped through three reusable bags in the last few months, but I suspect these bins will out live me.
Here's some blog with a photo. I'm not schilling--i just did an image search.
BananaMonkey at 10:41AM on 09/15/09
oops, here's the link to the photo. http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/04/29/loblaws-offers-free-green-bin/
BananaMonkey at 10:41AM on 09/15/09