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I also use reusable bags whenever I can. I keep several in my car plus a couple of soft-side coolers. I do pick up an occasional paper bag to collect the recyclable paper stuff and the plastic bags I get are recycled. I just heard a report that the plastic bags collected for recycling are shipped overseas and burned.
I really like those new $1 bags. I use them for other things too.
Whole Foods is phasing out plastic bags altogether - ours did a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, that means I have to start buying bags to clean up after my dog. I did buy a couple of the Whole Foods reusable bags that Skywings mentioned. In addition to being cheap and saving money at the register, Whole Food replaces them for free if they tear or break down. The only problem I have is remembering to put the bags in my briefcase on the days that I am stopping by the store on my walk home from work.
I am bummed about this, since we do most of our shopping at Whole Foods. We use the plastic bags in our trash containers. So the plastic are getting reused! We have less use for the paper bags at home.
I used to bring my own canvas bags to the stores in Kentucky, but I got out of the habit when I moved to Houston in 1996. The local grocery stores here wouldn't allow me to use them (that has since changed I hope!) and one well-known chain wouldn't allow me in the door with them.
I save and re-use the plastic bags for all sorts of things now.... lunch bags, liners for the trash cans; they're the perfect size to line the shredder basket, cleaning out the litter box, and many other uses I can't think of off the top of my head. I could probably come up with substitutes for just about everything except litter box duty if they were to suddenly disappear around here. I don't know what I would do then.
I do like the idea of using canvas bags for the groceries though. I need to start picking some up and remembering to actually use them!
I am bummed about this, since we do most of our shopping at Whole Foods. We use the plastic bags in our trash containers. So the plastic are getting reused! We have less use for the paper bags at home.
Reused, but they still end up in the landfills.
I have not heard of green alternatives for domestic trash disposal. I've never seen biodegradable trash bags.
It is very interesting to read that many of you use your own bags! So far, I have never seen anybody doing it in the U.S.
Habits are different, aren't they? Here in Germany, there is nobody at the check out to pack your groceries into bags, you have to take care of it yourself. Most people put everything back into the shopping cart and then into (collapsible) plastic boxes in their trunks. So do I. When I only buy few items, I bring my shopping basket. If you want a plastic and paper bag, you have to pay 10 cents.
I think next time we visit I'll ask the folks at Publix to simply put everything back into the cart. I can't wait to see their faces.
I don't know about that, Marlow, but at Aldi's (which is German) their empty boxes are fair game since you bring your own bags or use the boxes.
There are biodegradable plastic bags (Earth Fare uses them), however they still take 500 years to decompose and require petroleum to produce. Earth Fare donates 10 cents to a local non-profit charity each time you bring your own bags. They are based in Asheville, NC and are currently 2nd only to Whole Foods.
I purchased two nice canvas bags during a trip to a Fresh Market near the house. Old habits are so hard to break, though, and I often found myself heading out to the grocer's without them, so I started hanging them on the coat rack by the back door. Now, I can help but see them.
I purchased another two bags that I try hard to remember to return to the trunk of the car, so when I make stops on the way home, I have them with me.
All total, I have about $40 in four nice canvas bags, and even though they advertise 'Fresh Market,' I haven't had any other store object to my using them. I wonder what the actual savings, in say a $ amount, there has been in using them -- ie. as opposed to the cost of a box of plastic bags + the cost of filling-up landfills with them, + the cost of efforts to gather the silly things during 'clean sweeps?'
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(that has since changed I hope!) and one well-known chain wouldn't allow me in the door with them. 
