Save the Environment for Earth Day

Posted by Evelyn Kanter Apr 17, 2007

The clothes dryer in my kitchen has not worked in years. Instead of replacing it, I simply hang wet clothes on an old-fashioned rack to dry and use the dryer to store plastic shopping bags.

Nutty? Maybe. But, then, so the practice of handing out plastic bags, sometimes doubled up, for even the smallest purchase I make in a grocery or drug store.

Just as nutty is a sales person wrapping a new shirt or pair of pants I've purchased in tissue paper ,then a plastic bag with the store's logo, and then putting the entire wad into a fancy paper shopping bag with the store's logo.

What a waste of plastic and paper! What a waste of money, too. I'm sure my container of milk or new sweater would cost a tiny bit less if I wasn't also paying for the packaging that gets thrown out as soon as I get home. Or, in my case, stored in my non-working clothes dryer until I need to pull one from the pile to use for a garbage bag.

We have tax credits and energy credits. I'm waiting for a smart supermarket or department store to come up with plastic bag credits. It would work this way --

Bring in your own bag, whether it is plastic or paper or one of those wonderful re-usable canvas or mesh tote bags, and you will get a one or two penny discount off your bill.

A penny or two is not a lot of money. That's not the point.

But it could go a long way to helping save the environment. It would help make us aware of the amount of fossil fuels it takes to produce and transport plastic bags, and their load on our landfills, not to mention the flyaway bags littering our roadsides.

In Europe, it works the other way around -- if you want a plastic bag for the groceries you just purchased, you pay for it, just like anything else you are getting at that store. That's why you see more re-usable mesh shopping bags and canvas tote bags in Europe than you do plastic or paper.

So here's one tiny thing you can do for Earth Day and every day year-round -- take your own bag to the grocery store or clothing boutique. If you need any, just ask me -- I have a clothes dryer full of them ready to put to a good use.