It is though, and here’s the story.
This is the pile of plastic from just one week’s worth of groceries from Walmart, which someone kindly shops for us and loads in our car in the Walmart parking lot.
Some bags contain one item of food. Never are there more than three items in a bag. Many items are double-bagged. Some are not even heavy, such as three onions in one double bag. And one item in this order was triple-bagged!
There are 23 bags in this pile for $63 worth of groceries. If I bagged them myself, they would fit into three reusable bags.
Last week we had an opportunity to drive an hour south for Senior Hour at Trader Joe’s in Charleston.
Trader Joe’s limits the number of people, won’t let anyone in the store without a mask, AND they allow you to bring your own bags.
And look at this, the object of my delight for today ...
Organic potatoes. In a PAPER bag.
Even the little window is not plastic. It is made of sugar cane! The whole thing can be used as a fire starter in the fireplace when the potatoes are gone.
How DELIGHTFUL is that!
I really like that potato bag, it shouldn't be so difficult to mass produce it for all potato growers to use. Money,I guess may hinder that. Our Walmart requires masks and will put the groceries in my own bags. I just sit in my car and wait while they fill my bags. I agree it's sad with all the plastic, no matter how hard we try, it is just everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI am with you all the way with this one, Cynthia. If only we could infuse others with an environmental conscience, but stores like Walmart (would you believe that I have only been in a Walmart twice in my life?) don't help with that obscene level of packaging. I have shopped right through the pandemic and at one point, when it was not permitted to take one's own bags into the store, I placed everything in the cart and filled my own bags back at the car. Kudos to you, not only for being a conscientious citizen mindful of the welfare of others, but for blogging about it. If you only convert one other it will have been worthwhile. You have both my admiration and my appreciation.
ReplyDeleteOne brings one's own bags to Aldi and now, at least, my local grocery store (Price Chopper) will allow you to choose paper or plastic. I am hoping they will go back to allowing one's own recyclable bags soon!! I may have to go to customer service and do a little pushing!!
ReplyDeleteIt gets better, Cynthia. I just noticed the potatoes are a product of Canada!
ReplyDeleteI like paper bags also! But I can rarely get them at the usual grocery store although I ask for them please and than you every week...and never at Walmart:)
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely awesome. My daughter says she really likes how Trader Joes is handling the COVID crisis too.
ReplyDeleteThat is disgusting all those plastic bags for a few groceries.
ReplyDeleteYou may know that we hear in Australia don't have plastic bags anymore to put groceries in and have not done for a long time...we buy our bags and reuse them, when they wear out we buy more. I always carry fold up bags in my handbag when shopping because if I buy clothes or something else I have bags to put them in :)
Wow that looks good!
ReplyDeleteWell you are right! That is some bag. I am getting better at bringing in my reusable bags. I was great at doing it BEFORE the pandemic, then that hit and they didn't want your bags in the store ... and then when they let them in the store, they wouldn't touch them to fill them so that was a problem for me. My husband is blind and his only outing outside the house is going food shopping and managing him is enough - not interested in do the bagging as well. And now they want you to bring your bags in and they charge you .05 for each of their bags they use ... and I keep forgetting to grab my own bags. This bag thing just keeps changing in my area and I can't seem to catch up to what is current. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was doing well reducing my plastic till the virus struck. My supermarket uses plastic tray liners which means you get about three per order and they are re-cyclable too.
ReplyDeleteI have a reusable plastic bin 13x20x9 to bring groceries home in. I'm always amazed at how much it holds. One trip into the house. No ripped bags with groceries falling out.
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