Jon’s blog entry about environmentally-sensitive household cleaners reminded me of another environmental issue that we face at the grocery store: paper or plastic? I am not referring to the bags used to package your groceries so that you can carry them out of the store. I mean the ones that you put individual items into to make it easier for the cashier. For example, I put each vegetable or fruit into a separate plastic bag so that it is easier to ring up at the cash register. On an average trip to the store, I might come home with 8-10 plastic bags of fruit, vegetables, or bulk food. I am hardly alone. Collectively, US consumers use between 500 billion and 1 trillion bags a year.

I am considering making the switch to using cloth bags when I shop for groceries. (I have no connection to this company and have only seen their products on the internet. I would be curious to hear other people’s experiences with cloth bags. Are they large enough? How many do you need? Can cashiers correctly read the produce item number without opening the bag?)

There are other steps consumers can take to minimize the environmental impact of their plastic bag usage beside switching to cloth. Stores and recycling centers will accept plastic bags. (You can find one that recycles near you.) You can also reuse plastic bags at the grocery store for shopping or at home as trash can liners, storage bags, food storage, and the list goes on.

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About the Author

Bea Bezmalinovic Dhebar is encouraged by the creativity, diversity, diffusion and fusion of ideas taking place among people around the world. She is particularly interested in the ways in which new entrepreneurial ventures - whether led by business, government or non-governmental organizations - can make a difference in our quality of life. Bea has worked extensively on international health and development issues with organizations as varied as Management Sciences for Health, the NetAid Foundation, Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Public Health, Partners in Population and Development, Save the Children, Aid to Artisans, the US Agency for International Development, the Overseas Development Council, and the International Center for Research on Women. She has lived or worked in more than 25 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Bea received a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and recently returned to get an MBA from Babson College. She is fluent in Spanish and has some knowledge of Portuguese and Bengali.