Plastic Bags

While I sadly admit that there are plenty of things that I do that are not environmentally friendly, I work on improving bit by bit. Buying a new house is probably not the most environmentally-friendly thing to do, but we are moving into a neighborhood that is very active in environmental concerns, and I hope to take part.

There are a few things that I try to always do — bring home our recycling indtead of throwing it in the trash where we are, using as little disposable flatware and plates as possible, not using paper towels and paper napkins (we don not have either of these in our kitchen) and trying to never take a plastic bag home from the store.

At Target the other day, I put my canvas bag on the belt and start unloading the cart. The cashier threw my bag aside and started putting everything in plastic bags before I could stop him. I asked him to use the canvas one instead and he went to put the plastic bag inside the canvas one. No, I don’t want the plastic bag! Then while I’m repacking, he starts to put other stuff in plastic bags. No, I don’t want the plastic bag! He was SO rude to me after that! What’s up with that?

I noticed that IKEA is now charging for plastic bags and donates the money to American Forests, “the nation’s oldest non-profit conservation organization, to plant trees and offset CO2 emissions”. How cool would it be if all the retailers did that?