Using Cloth Shopping Bags During COVID-19

I want to share my thoughts and experiences about using reusable, cloth shopping bags during this pandemic. In April and May I didn’t grocery shop because I used Instacart. The Instacart shoppers delivered groceries using an overwhelming number of plastic, disposable grocery bags. So many bags in fact, that it will take me a few weeks to recycle all of them, since I am taking a reasonable amount with me for recycling when I go grocery shopping. I am taking the bags for recycling at Mariano’s and Fresh Thyme. Bag recycling is also available at Jewel. The bags are picked up by the Trex company and used to make fake wood park benches and birdhouses.

Please do not throw your plastic shopping bags in the garbage or in your curbside recycling bin! They need to be recycled properly by placing them in a plastic bag recycling bin at a grocery store. Plastic shopping bags are not supposed to go into your curbside recycling because they get caught in the sorting machinery.

I just started doing my own grocery shopping again, wearing a mask of course. I was told that due to COVID-19, shoppers are not allowed to use their cloth shopping bags from home. This may have been true earlier in the pandemic, but it is not true now. You can take your own reusable shopping bags with you into the store and use them. The only caveat is that you need to bag your own groceries. I don’t mind bagging my own groceries, so that is what I am doing. You could choose to wash your grocery bags before you use them again, or just let them sit without touching them for a couple of days before putting them back in your car.

At the checkout in the grocery store, I’ve been asking if it is okay for me to use my own bags. The answer at three different grocery stores has been the same, “You can use your own bags but you need to bag the groceries yourself.” I haven’t been in all of the grocery stores, so to be on the safe side, I would ask the clerk who is scanning your groceries.

If you forget your reusable bags at home, probably the most environmentally friendly thing to do is ask for paper bags. When I get a paper bag at the store, I am going to ask if the paper bags are made from recycled paper. If they are, then they are more environmentally friendly than the plastic bags. Plastic is made from fossil fuels, so that is one reason it is not environmentally sound. Then there is the problem of plastic not biodegrading like paper in a landfill, and the problem of most plastic bags not being recycled properly.

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