Search Carbonrally
Challenge Activity
These people have all recently accepted this challenge.
Bring Your Own Bags Featured on Nov 04, 2007
Challenge
Avoid using new grocery bags for one month. It takes a bit of planning, but we'll tell you how to do it!
Individual Result
By re-using grocery bags, you will reduce your CO2 emissions a total of 6 lbs by the end of one month.
Rally Impact
2451 people have reduced CO2 emissions by 7.04 tons by completing this challenge so far. That's equal to turning off the electricity of 5 homes for about 1 month!
Challenge Details
Ask South Africans what they think of plastic bags. There were so many discarded bags blowing around their country that people started calling them “the national flower” before the government enacted a bag tax. Maybe it’s time we stopped them from “blooming” here too.
The Carbon Connection
Americans consume over 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year. Less than 5% of those bags are recycled. The rest end up buried in landfills or wandering the landscape as litter. And that’s a worldwide problem. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade. They break apart into smaller pieces of plastic, but they don’t ever go away. Plastic that has made its way to the Pacific Ocean has gathered together in a large, floating dump called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Part of that mass of floating plastic is located between Hawaii and California and covers an area of ocean twice the size of Texas. And that plastic is working its way into the Pacific Ocean food webs, poisoning marine life.
But don’t think that paper bags are a better alternative to plastic. Americans consume over 10 billion paper bags a year. That requires the cutting down of over 14 million trees to make the paper for those bags. The paper production process releases almost twice the air pollution and 50 times as much water pollution as the production of plastic.
Both plastic and paper bags require energy in the manufacturing process. And that energy most likely comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. Each paper bag requires roughly 4 times as much energy to create as one plastic bag.
Getting It Done
Need help meeting this Challenge? Here are a few simple suggestions:
- Reuse any paper and plastic bags you already have at home. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to bring bags back to the store, so put a stash of bags in your car trunk right now. Did you know that some grocery stores are now giving you money back if you provide your own bags?
- The best answer to the question “Paper or plastic?” is “Neither.” Buy and use reusable cloth bags. You can find those on sale at your supermarket or online. Keep in mind that manufacturing a reusable cloth bag also creates CO2. However, as you use that same bag for a month, six months, a year, the bag pays for itself in pounds of carbon reductions and good karma.
- If you must use new bags, take fewer from the store. Don’t have the clerk double-bag unless it’s absolutely necessary. The gallon of milk you bought doesn’t need a bag. And you can probably manage to carry the Skittles and Advil you bought at the drugstore without a bag.
- There are lots more ways to reuse those old paper and plastic bags. Be creative. Kids can use paper bags for textbook covers and art projects. Plastic bags can become trash can liners, pooper scoopers, lunch bags, packing material, and scores of other things. Need more ideas? Check out some of the creative uses for bags at Craftster.org.
Do you have other suggestions for reducing or reusing grocery bags? If so, please share them in the Challenge forum section below.
Rules of the Challenge
This Challenge requires you to avoid using new grocery bags for a period of one month. If you forget to bring bags to the store a few times during the challenge, it’s no big deal. Just extend the duration of the challenge for a week or so to make up for it. For this Challenge, we’ll be reducing our CO2 emissions by 6 lbs per person per month.
This is a repeatable Challenge. If you get into a routine of reusing bags, you may come back to Carbonrally next month, accept this Challenge again, and save another 6 pounds of CO2! As always, you can also “uncommit” to this Challenge if you find it too tough, and try it again later when you’re up for it.
Learn More
Paper or Plastic? from Washington Post
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Reusable Bags
See the Math
Let’s start with the known or estimated numbers:
- The average American uses and discards 9 bags per week. Of those 9 bags, 7 are plastic and 2 are paper.
- We are assigning a CO2 savings of 0.1 lbs per plastic bag. That includes both the CO2 released when fossil fuels are burned to create the energy needed to manufacture the bag, but also the oil used as raw material to make plastic and the energy used to transport the bag from the factory to your supermarket.
- We are assigning a CO2 savings of 0.3 lbs per paper bag. This number reflects the energy used to manufacture the bag as well as the energy used to transport the bag from the factory to your supermarket.
- The bag use of the average American is then 1.3 lbs of CO2 per week or about 6 lbs per month per person.
Discuss Bring Your Own Bags:
I am definately going to follow through with my challenge
As a teacher, I’ve managed to accumulate a plethera of tote bags. I use those for shopping. People at the store don’t think I can fit everything in them, but I manage to do it. They are so accustomed to 4 items per plastic bag that they don’t know what to do with real bags. Our local Walmart is getting better since I started using cloth bags. I’ve even got my husband using them. It’s gotta make a difference somehow, somewhere.
well i think i’m killing two birds with one stone insteed of driving i’m walking toe th store with my own bags
at my house i keep store of grochery bags in a container and then i remember to bring it to the store
I refused the box at Costco the other day and they told me if I am carrying a cooler I can bring it in the store and they will pack it for me in the line. So now I have my cloth bag for some things and the cooler for the cold things.
We have quite a number of canvas bags that we use whenever we go grocery shopping. We make sure that when we are heading out to the store that we take them. If we ever just “run” into the store without planning we ask for paper bags. Not as good but better than the plastic. Besides, we put our recycled newspapers and magazines in the paper bag to put out to the curb for recycling.
My mom and me have been doing this for a good 3-5 years already. I always use the plastic grocery store bags. Then when a store has like those reusable bags I use them to. At first I didn’t think it made a big difference but now I see how!
Besides bringing our own bags to the grocery store, we have also started to bring our own produce bags. They are cheap and easy to use. We weren’t using many little produce plastic bags either, but 1 or 2 a trip start to add up. Check them out! www.bage-wash.com/purchase_byo.html
I’ve been doing this for a few years and once you are in the habit it is easy. Added bonus, groceries are much easier to carry in canvas bags and I have a cooler bag that keeps my perishables in case I have another errand to run. The only problem I have is, I use plastic bags as trash liners and don’t know how to kick the habit. Are there biodegradable trash liners out there?
I usually use my canvas bags, so this shouldn’t be too hard. But I can cut down on the times I forget to bring them for small purchases!
We always use our cloth or canvas bags. We’ve even got a few that are made of 100% recycled material! That’s nice too. Another great thing is that most stores give you a small credit for each bag you bring yourself off your grocery bill so the bags pay for themselves after a while.
I carry canvas bags in each car. When I forget to take the bag in the store (almost always as I am new at this) I just refuse to buy more than I can carry in my hands. Have to remember not to carry my strawberries against my shirt though. ;-)
How about next time it’s your family or friend’s birthday, you buy them a couple cute reusable canvas bags instead of a candle or a pair of earrings? Niiiice gift! And way cool for our environment.
This was an easy challenge for me to start with since I’ve been bringing my own mesh & canvas bags to the store since 1989! I also keep a few plastic store bags in my backbag/purse for those few times I forget the other bags at home. Also, I like Libby’s idea of charging for plasic or paper bags – I bet that would spure a lot of other people to take on this challenge in a hurry!!
This was great challenge and I will actually continue doing it. It is easy and you can see the difference right before your eyes. My local organic market even gives you a discount every time you use your own bag(s) too.
My mom forgot to grab her re-usable bags when we went to the store last night. So I told her that we could only buy as much as we could carry becuase all the store bags are bad for the environment. She laughed at first, but now she’s helping me with all my Go Green stuff.
This is one of the easier challenges for me since I have been bringing my own bags to the store for years. Just keep your bags in your car so you don’t forget them! And if you’ve purchased only one or two items just carry them, you don’t even need a bag!
I’ve been bringing my own bags to every market I go to for years now: the “baggers” look at me funny sometimes until I remind them that I’m saving them money, which translates into their paychecks. Besides, floating plastic bags are high on the pollution list: there’s even a floating continent somewhere in the ocean (hard to see by satellite, and off the trade routes, but it’s there!). All these plastic bags pollute our waterways, sewer lines, and you can guess what else…Yuck! Who needs ‘em? European stores have charged for every bag customers need and don’t bring. Soon our stores will be following suit…wise up, consumers!
I just joined, and I’m getting my family to help me. We only have one reusable bag but I’m buying more. It’s great that some stores are offering refunds – that way even people who don’t care much or are uninformed are also motivated.
A suggestion for people forgetting to bring the re-useable bags to the store. Leave them in your car. That way you will always have them with you.
I live in the Caribbean and I can see what plastic bags are doing. It’s really scary. I’m now promising to try and use as little plastic bags as i can when I go shopping. Be sure to visit my site wwww.freewebs.com/bajanspice and discuss what we can do in the forums!!
When I lived in the Soviet Union they charged for plastic bags at the market. (I bet that is the case in many other countries!) It was a real surprise the first time but quickly became a huge incentive for me to remember to bring my bags from home. I’ve always wished that the stores here would charge 5 cents a bag. It seems reasonable to me and it would sure train people to get in the habit of reusing plastic or getting reusable bags.
My family and my girlfriends’ family are both doing this. Although my family usually uses reusable bags, we just started carrying at least one with us at all times (in a purse, a car, a backpack- Hell, a pocket even, if it’s cloth.); My girlfriends family when out and bought a few reusable grocery bags, and we even hang two of them by the door in case we need them for the corner store.
All the stores make it easy to reuse bags! At Fred Myers I use cute heart bags and they also have black ones for only 99 cents. But I have to remember to put in my car, I mean my parents’ car.
Also, hint, until carrying empty bags with you becomes a habit: If you forgot your recyclable bags or plastic bags to reuse, many grocery stores have a bin near the front door with a marking “Recycle Bags” or similar. You could pull a few out of there, maybe. I never tried this so I don’t know what the policies are, but it’s an idea.
Started attempting this even before I accepted the challenge, which was when I discovered that the Giant grovery store in my neighborhood is giving 5 cent refunds if you bring in your own bags. It’s not going to make me rich, but it’s a tiny bit of extra incentive…
I have been trying to do this for years! I forget sometimes (even though they are in my car!) So we do have plasic occasionally (which is ok for garbage bags/cat litter etc) but I’m going to try harder! Also I agree, I hate it when people ask for a bag for a small thing or TWO for a heavy thing that already HAS a handle!!! Good luck! :D
I already use reusable bags and have for a while. Any plastic or paper bags we do use we use to put stuff in to put in the recycling bins (yes we recycle a lot).
The problem I have is remembering to put my reusable bags back in the car after unloading groceries. So we keep the empty ones by the door. For heavy items, I strongly suggest cloth. I’ve had a few reusable bags break from too much weight.
I’m guessing that I should probably take a challenge that I don’t already do… haha I guess the one that I did take that will take a little work on my part is the shower time reducing challenge but, anyway, I digress.. This was something I started doing a little while back. It took some time to remember to take my own bag(s) or take the ones from before back and it still takes a little self reminder, but this is something I hope becomes completely natural for me and I don’t have to think about it any more. Not to mention, it is a great incentive, as well, when grocery stores, like the one I go to, give you little discounts on your bill for bringing your own bag and reusing old bags!
We bought some reusable bags and have a hard time remembering to bring them to the store. We’re going to try this challenge and hopefully we’ll succeed.
redusing carbon dioxide is bad because the plants and the trees need that gas. if they dont get it they will DIE={
I already do this (have for a while now!) and think it’s great that so many people are accepting this challenge. Hope to see you out there at grocery stores with your bags!
already do, but i hope others start to also!!
After giving up our car, we would walk to the grocery store. It is so much easier to bring our own bags and even coolers. Some of the stores we go to are so used to us bringing our own bags, they are surprise if we forget them.
This one couldn’t be easier for us…We’ve kept our “bag of bags” handy for every shopping trip for many years now. Several of the local stores actually reimburse a nickel for each bag. Saving money and saving the environment. What a deal…
WW
My wife is big into this and we try to follow this will all stores where we can. Key for us is leaving the bags in the car.
Everytime i go to the market, I don’t use there paper or plastic bags, i make sure to use re-usable bags/totes. :)
We just bought 4 reusable bags yesterday at the supermarket. They are very large and can hold a lot and plus they’re insulated! So now we can keep our cold things cold until we get home and we can even us them for other purposes. They are strong and I don’t have to worry about them breaking when I’m carrying them.
If you forget your bags and only bought a few things, carry them out to the car. Even use the grocery cart to haul the items out to the car. You don’t really need a bag.
i’m going to start this challenge and i hope to make a differance!
ya my faimly does this its also easier to carry because it wont rip its a great way to help the earth
I already do this at the grocery store as much as possible. I’m going to buy another bag so I have enough for all my groceries (most of the time). Why not also do this at any store that puts your items in bags – home improvement store; clothing store; book store; record store. Anyplace you shop is a candidate for using your own bags.
my family and I always save all the bags we get and reuse them when we can and when we want to. So we always have a big stash of bags in the cabinet.
These bags from Envirosax are fantastic. They roll-up into a tiny little ball, yet hold a ton of stuff. Much more than a typical re-usable bag. Plus they are good looking and comfortable to throw over your shoulder. I sound like I work for them (which I do not), but honestly, these are fantastic bags. My wife has one in her pocketbook at all times – and because it is so tiny it fits without a problem.
http://usa.envirosax.com/pages/products.php?icat=1
The one we have are synthetic, but they also have organic ones made of bamboo.
I was lucky enough to get 2 really cool re-useable bags at Trader Joe’s awhile ago for, like $2.00 each. They are super durable and the best thing about them is the conversations I get into w/the baggers at Whole Paycheck. They admire them, and are jealous at the same time.
i have done this my whole life. it’s easy once it becomes habit, and more and more people are doing it—- plus many stores give financial incentives for using reusable bags.
i do this at all stores—not just the grocery store!
I have entirely switched to bringing my own grocery bags. I also carry a thin bag in my purse that I pull out when shopping. It just takes a little practice, and then it’s easy to remember!
I have reusable bags for all the stores I shop at. Most of them give me a little money back for using them. I keep them in the car in a little spot in the trunk.
I’ve found I need to leave a bag stash in my car, because I so easily forget to bring them to the store!
if your like me you probably have a place in your house and keep many many grocery bags, so taking your own bags to the maket will be simple. (for me at least)
Now is the time to really start working on bringing your own bags. Legislation is talking about charging 25cents for each plastic bag you get at grocery and other stores. It takes some practice, so start now.
Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage will no longer have plastic bags available after Earth Day. I see more and more people bringing in their own bags every day, so everybody remember to byobag! :) http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/byobag/
I keep my bags hung by the front door, so when I go shopping, I grab them and keep them in the front seat of the car, so I don’t foget to bring them into the store with me. I got my bags at WalMart for $1 each and they easily hold as much as 2-3 plastic bags, but I also found this site: http://www.thegreenloop.com/green_bags_s/350.htm that has a reusable pouch for 5 bags that would easily fit in a purse, or the glove compartment of a car, etc.
Costco has the best bags! They carry up to 70 pounds and are very durable.
Bring canvas bags to supermarket, everyone sells them now, $1.00 in King Kullen and do not rip. I keep them in my car. Also alot of things we buy we don’t need a bag for. I carry in things as they are. Everything has so much packaging anyway, Why need a bag to carry in cereal boxes or dog food bags. You go to Blockbuster and they ask do you want a bag? What for to carry out a DVD? Other stores like Wal-Mart puts one or two items in a plastic bag, it’s ridiculous. Another suggestion keep a small container in your trunk and put groceries in that. Makes things easier and will help save the planet. pasiefert@optonline.net
My family uses reusable containers for lunches, also everyone in my family has their own insulated bag which saves on paper or plastic bags. pasiefert@optonline.net
Home Depot has great nylon bags they sell for 1.99 each I believe. They are orange bags that have handles and clips to close and can fit at least 5 plastic bags worth of groceries in. We find them really helpful at the market as well as when we’re carrying our groceries upstairs! No more armfulls of bags!
I’ve been taking with me every day a cloth bag or two plus plastic bags that I’ve reused many times for many months now.That’s easy. My problem is I live in a large apartment building, like so many others, that require you to throw your garbage down the incinerator (non-working) in bags!!! What do we do when the supply of bags in one’s home is gone?
My family and I have been bringing our Bags on the Run green bags to Kings every week and now many people are coming up to us and asking where we got them. People are interested if they get educated about it… maybe there is a way to convince grocery stores to advertise green bags more…
Argh, I do this almost every time I go to the grocery store. Occasionally I do forget, but I reuse the bags for lunch and garbage can liners like lots of people here. Occasionally I forget. But the really annoying thing is when the checkout clerks just ignore my “I brought my own bags” or put stuff in one bag, and then start plastic bagging again when I’m obviously about to hand them the next canvas bag. I can usually avoid this by bagging myself, but not always. It’s just frustrating when you’re being thwarted, especially when you remembered them in the first place. :) So before I take on this challenge, I’m going to train my local safeway clerks…
I use a strong old canvas bag from greenpeace most of the times, but sometimes I use the plastic or paper bags of the store and then line up the trash cans with them – since we are supposed top put our non recyclable trash in trash bags – or shouldn’t we? Anyway, i never buy any trashbags.
For any of you who attend career fairs, trade shows, or conferences save the cloth bags companies give out and use them for groceries.
here is another tote alternative from Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9418555 It’s made of plastic grocery bags fused together, and then stitched to make a durable, waterproof tote! =)
We’ve used canvas bags for about a year now and I have to agree with jellyfish and shane, initially they were sometimes forgotten in the car. We keep a dozen of them in the trunk and have started bringing the whole batch with each time we go shopping even we intend to only buy milk. Strange, there is never a time when we don’t use at least one bag.
Here are a couple of solutions that both help the environment AND local artisans!
Check out Eco-friendly shopping bags: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9445456 These totes feature “green” quotes and are a nice large size!
And reusable produce bags! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9704080 This solves the problem of using plastic bags for produce – they are made of lightweight tulle so as not to affect the scale!
Great idea, littlebirdbecca! I’ll have to remember the recycling can of bags next time I forget my canvas!
chicobag.com
Other great reusable bags are Chico bags. They are made of nylon, which makes it pretty durable, but more importantly, much easier to maintain than cloth bags. They are more expensive than cloth bags, but are worth the extra bucks. Another benefit is you can fold it into the built-in pouches and stuff it in your pocket or purse whenever you need it.
How do you all eliminate the plastic bags and plastic cartons in which you put bulk groceries like raisins, flour and fresh ground peanut butter? These things are weighed at the checkout, so glass isn’t a good option. Cloth bags would get yucky. Reusing the plastic bags is an option, but they are pretty thin and you could end up with flour all over the floor if they tear. Any ideas?
Last year my local supermarket began selling this cloth shopping bags, so I bought one. It is made from recycled material, which is a bonus. And yesterday I was shopping (I live in a small town in WY, and I know a lot of folks here, along with the store owner and employees.) and as I finished checking out, Janice says, I’ll take 10 cents off your total, and I said why, and she said, The folks that use these cloth bags get 10 cents off there order, because they are not using plastic or paper bags. What a marvelous Idea. Last year I put on only 1400 miles driving in my vehicle.
We just switched to cloth bags. Prior to that we found that the plastic bags were a good solution for dirty disposable diapers in our home (could have used cloth diapers, but the amount of water used in cleaning seemed to nullify the benefits. Rather than buying garbage bags for the small garbage cans in the bathrooms, we are using the plastic bags we have as garbage liners. I know this still puts them in the landfill, but I haven’t found a way to reconcile my other desire to reduce the spread of germs and harmful bacteria without using liners, so this seems like a compromise.
Hey everyone,
I use some great canvas bags I bought on ebay before the green movement got popular (meaning, back when someone was looking to ditch 8 great canvas bags for about $20). The only thing I still struggle with is the veggies. I know, if you are getting one avocado, no bag needed, but when you’re buying 5 apples the bag sort of helps to keep the apples together for weighing, etc. So far I’ve been taking the plastic veggie bags and reusing them as much as possible, but does anyone have a good source for a mesh bag or something (lightweight!) so that I can divest of plastic bags entirely?
Thanks ya’ll :)
I have been using canvas and cotton bags for years. I still forget to put them in the car sometimes. When I do forget I know that most stores have a barrel that they use for recycling those plastic bags. I will use those bags and next time I can bring them back and know they have been used at least twice before they were recycled. Peace, Rebecca
Boy, old habits are hard to change. I have canvas bags to take shopping and when I check out,than I think ..oh, I know where my bags are…in the backseat of my car :)! I’m getting better remembering to take my bags into the store. Soon it will be my NEW habit.
The key is to leave a few bags in your car. It’s frustrating to stop by the store to pick something up and not have a bag. If there is at least one your car, you’re always prepared.
I bought the most amazing bag from Amazon.com over the holiday. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000M3OP6A/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&;m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance World Food Programme benefits from the initial purchase and i think it is a great looking bag so that makes it Perfect!!
Here is a website I found that has great reusable grocery bags. They look pretty small, but they are wide and can really carry a lot. You will never want to see a regular brown bag again. They also bright up your kitchen when you get home.
To go a little further, my girlfriend and I bring reusable food containers in our cars to serve as “doggy bags” whenever we have leftover food from restaurants (thus not using styrofoam containers). My girlfriend also uses reusable stainless cup for her Starbucks habit (thus sparing our planet the paper cups/styrofoam from Starbucks)
I have been for the last 5 months already bringing my own bags to either Safeway or Trader Joes.
I just leave the bag in my briefcase carry-bag that I bring to work and when I go shopping after work, the bag is there already. Don’t have to think about bringing one to shop with, already have it ready to use and re-use and use again.
Helen
It’s easy to bring bags to Trader Joes, but I will work on bringing them to the Grocery Store as well as Department Stores for Christmas Shopping.
I have purchased the eco-friendly bags from a couple of stores such at Trader Joe’s, Lucky’s, and Costco. If you want large enough bags to hold all your groceries. I would recommend the Costco Bags. I keep a set of 6 eco-friendly bags in my car and a backup set in my husband’s car. We love to use them all the time. It saves the environment and also I know that my grocery bags won’t split, tear, or leak on me when I go to pick them up out of the cart or car trunk. We even use them for non-grocery shopping items such as making purchases at Best Buys, Office Depot, etc.
IMHO, the challenge, after you’ve bought them, is using them. We bought a couple and keep them in the map pockets of our cars… very handy, and I often spot them when getting out of the car on the way to a store. Some stores (Whole Foods, for one), have a nice compact bag (2×6?) with a zipper built in… my wife keeps one in her purse.
I have been doing this for several months. Same here, forgot to bring them several times. Now both cars have them in the trunk, only way I could remember to do it each time…
I have been doing this for about a year. The first month or so it was hard to remember to bring them. But after that it has been part of my weekly routine. I find it much easier to carry the coth bags anyway.
I recent purchased bags from a company called Baggu, there websight is www.baggubag.com I was surprised at how well they work and how much they carry. I will never use a plastic bag again.
Sack the plastic shopping bag http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/11/10/sack_the_plastic_shopping_bag/
Paper or plastic? Or neither? http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2007/11/15/paper_or_plastic_or_neither/
http://usa.envirosax.com/index.php
reuseable shopping bag from recycled banners… http://www.jennyhurth.com/grocery-tote.html
Turns out my local grocery store (Hannafords) gives you $.05 for every bag of your own that you use! I saved $.15 by bringing my own bags this week!
There was an interesting opinion piece in Saturday’s Boston Globe. Apparently next Wednesday has been designated “Reusable Bag Day” in Massachusetts. And the author of the article is a Massachusetts state senator who has introduced legislation calling for a plastic bag fee within the Commonwealth. Not sure he’s completely wise to the paper bag problem, but… maybe someone can write him?
Some folks are asking “why is this challenge showing ‘0’ impact after I accept it?”. Sorry for the confusion. This challenge racks up 6 lbs of CO2 reduction over the course of a month. So you’ll see 0.2 pounds added to your account each day for the next 30 days. We’ll make this more simple in the next challenge. Sorry, and thanks for bearing with us!
I always thought my choice of ‘paper’ at the check out was so much better than plastic … this info was very eye-opening.
I think one of the keys to succeeding with this challenge is to put the bags, whatever kind, in your car RIGHT NOW!
This guy is compelling!
No matter what you might think about Global Warming, everyone needs to watch this video immediately!!!
You must login or register to post.

