The mountains of things we throw away
are much greater than the things we use.In this, if in no other way,
we can see the wild and reckless exuberance of our production,
and waste seems to be the index.-John Steinbeck,
Travels With Charley
I’ve written before about my attempts to live the life less plastic, and in particular my attempt to stop using those awful thin plastic bags in the produce section.
Plastic is fossil fuel-intensive to create, and it never goes away. Never. It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually being consumed by larger creatures, taking up more and more room in their stomachs until they starve to death; or breaking down still further, absorbing pollutants, and working its way up the food chain.
We can’t speak of a sustainable lifestyle without talking plastic, because we can’t possibly continue to consume and throw away at this rate.
I was recently sent a set of organic cotton reusable produce bags from A Greener Kitchen to try out. A Greener Kitchen offers eco-friendly kitchen & dining products, including organic cotton aprons, bamboo cutting boards, eco-friendly cleaning tools and biodegradable trash bags.
The produce bags are actually made using upcycled material left over from the organic cotton aprons (as a compulsive sewing scrap collector this detail delights me). Each set consists of six bags in varying sizes: two 6”x7” (appropriate for small snacks or things like bulk spices, nuts or maybe blueberries), two 9”x9” (apples and grapes and whatnot) and two 12”x16” bags (celery, asparagus). They feel elegant and look like little works of art, really.
Our organic cotton products are cut and sewn in the USA by family-owned Tailoredwear, Inc. using fabric from Harmony Art, one of the USA’s few eco-friendly textile artisans. Harmony Art sources their organic cotton from Texas and India. For their fabrics made in India, the fiber is Fair Trade Certified, and the fabric is produced in a Fair Trade certified facility.
Now, the other reusable bags I have are mesh, so cashiers can find the SKU code without opening the bag. In theory. In reality, they always want to open the bag, presumably to make sure I’m not stealing caviar and saffron. So the fact that these bags aren’t see-through doesn’t bother me in the least, and the genius little attached elastic loop make it easy for the cashier to peek inside and confirm that I’m not robbing them blind.
And then reclose so I don’t have blueberries rolling around my trunk.
A Greener Kitchen’s Organic Cotton Reusable Produce Bags are available for purchase here for $24.95. While you’re there, check out the rest of their lovely organic cotton kitchen products— aprons, reusable produce bags, napkins, and table runners. (I LOVE TABLE RUNNERS, BTW.)
Win It!
A Greener Kitchen is giving away a set of reusable produce bags to one lucky reader! Just follow the directions below to enter.
This giveaway will close at 12:01am on November 8th.
Good luck!
Disclosure: I received a set of reusable produce bags to try out and review. No other compensation was received and all thoughts are my own.
Bonus: A video demonstration of the bags in action.
I will be pissed if I don’t win. I really want these.
Yes, we use cloth bags everytime we go to the grocery. However, I do give in and sometimes I take one of the plastic bags for veggies that I am afraid might sop up some leftover meat juice in the cart if I just let them hang free.
We use some cloth bags for produce, but they’re very heavy. I’d love to give these a try.
I have a couple so far, still trying to build them up so I don’t have to use plastic at all!
My hubby and I try as much as possible to use reusable bags. We are good about remembering for our weekly shopping trips, but it’s the ‘run out in the middle of the week’ trips that we tend to forget them on.
We only use produce bags when absolutely necessary, like for wrangling a handful of snow peas. Would love to try these out!
I use reusable bags, but don’t have anything for fruits and such, so this would be great.
I use reusable bags whenever I remember to take them. Never used reusable for groceries tho and would love to try these.
bvbabybv at gmail dot com
I do have reusable shopping bags that I use everywhere, not just the grocery store–most are strictly utilitarian, but I have a couple of pretty ones to take to the department stores. I also have a couple of the mesh bags for produce, but need more. Also, the mesh is no good for buying some bulk items like beans or oats!
i always have them in my car, but always forget to bring them in! oops.
Yes, I try and use them as much as possible.
Always at Aldi’s!
I try to use my reusable bag system but it’s really hard with self-checkout.
I use reusable shopping bags but not produce bags yet.
We use only reusable grocery bags. We used to use reusable produce bags but eventually lost all of them one by one.
I shop once a month and I leave my home with an army of tote bags and two rolling coolers (for cold stuff – better than bagging!). And I refuse to bag at the checkout – I take my cart full of paid-for groceries out to the car and bag them there (unless the weather’s reallly bad) so I can sort better.
Yes I do use them at the grocery store.
I always use reusable bags to shop, mostly the canvas ones that the grocery sells but I get many uses out of them and no plastic waste!
I do use reusable bags at the grocery store. I use the ones that are generally given out by the store (canvas / cotton) when I can.
use reusable bags
I try to reuse plastic produce bags from prior shopping trips, but I would really like to replace them with cloth bags.
I collect reusable bags and use them every time at the grocery store! I also knit my own produce bags!
pkbw28(at)gmail(dot)com
I use them to bring my groceries home in – I get mad when they try to stick them in plastic. Grrr.
I use reusable shopping bags at the grocery store, however, mine seem to wear out really fast. Is there some kind of trick to making sure they last long enough to be environmentally friendly allround?
yes we just started to
vmkids3 at msn dot com
we use reusable shopping bags
I haven’t heard of these, but now I have to have them! What a great idea!
I use reusable bags, but I need to get better at remembering them! I feel awful when I forget and I need to start leaving them in my car. If I do forget I always reuse the plastic or paper bags I do get so at least I am not just throwing them away.
mosaic317 at gmail dot com
We use reusable bags on most shopping trips
I use reusable bags when I go to the grocery store. I need to remember to use them when I go to other stores (i.e. Target, Wal-Mart, etc.)
Yes, I do for the health food store. Ones I got free at World market.
These are VERY nice!
spcale at yahoo dot com.
I use my own tote bags at the grocery store. If I must have plastic, I make sure to reuse it once I get home. Thank you for the giveaway