Shopping Bags

When I first visited Oz in 2003, one of the things that impressed me was how the shops don't always automatically stuff your purchases into a (possibly non-biodegradeable) plastic bag. Instead, they ask you if you WANT a bag, and if you do, well, you often pay for it.

Instead of plastic bags, we buy little fabric totes (approx. $1 each) and carry them into the store with us.

I love this - who needs all that plastic? Australian stores have been doing it for years and years.

Last year a good friend gave me a vinyl tote-bag that rolls up into a sausage-like size/shape and tucks neatly into my handbag. If I happen to be shopping without one of my totes, I can just pull this bag out and flip it open - instant carry-all! It's very lightweight and sturdy.

Now, to be honest, there are still many stores which still put purchases into a store bag. Just today I bought a greeting card and before I could say anything, the clerk slipped it into a small, flat paper bag. Major department stores still use bags. K-Mart, Target, and such still automatically pull out the plastic unless you specifically stop them. Likewise, certain boutique shops like to have you walking the mall with bags that carry their store logo. Still - if I whip out my vinyl tote-bag, no clerk even blinks at me; they just put my purchases in it.

When we go to Bunnings, an Australian hardware store chain not unlike Home Depot or Lowe's, you  bring your own bag - or you can grab a cardboard box from the stash they keep at the front of the store just next to the registers. These cardboard boxes are nothing more than the cartons their stock arrived in. BRILLIANT! They also sell reusable cloth bags - which are much bigger than the grocery bags you get in Coles or Safeway/Woolworth's - and which are very handy to have.

Hopefully someone will suggest the "Bunnings box" idea to American hardware stores soon - it's the next cool earth-friendly fashion!

On my last two trips to the US (2011 and 2012), I noticed that re-usable shopping bags are becoming more accepted and people are starting to use them. Stephen and I picked up a few things at Kroger (a major grocery chain) and grabbed one of their little totes. The black cloth bag looks just like the ones we got from Maxi's grocery here in Australia - but has a little extra pocket sewn into the top on one side. I have no idea what this little pocket is for - seems pretty impractical to me, as anything you put in it is going to fall out and get lost in the boot (trunk) long before you get home.