Vancouver Area Relocalisation Network

It seems everyone's finally getting on the down-with-plastic-bags bandwagon. There are plastic bag bans popping up all over North America. And, where it isn't yet mandated by city ordinance but very much on the lips of the public, local markets and natural food chains alike are opting for the paper-only policy. Alternatively, customers are being encouraged to bring their own reusable shopping bags and forego disposables altogether. Personally, I like this option the best. What irritates me, though, is the way in which reusable bags have become yet another product in the marketplace--a cultural cliche that, for $40, better make the right statement about the person carrying it.

I got to thinking about this as I was standing in the check-out at Capers the other day. Don't get me wrong, I like Capers. They do a great job of labeling what's organic and local and the brands they sell are generally what I'm looking for. And, thankfully, they don't put a lot of impulse-buy crap at the till like most stores. However, there was one product I saw at the Capers check-out that really irked me--a reusable nylon shopping bag that neatly stuffs into a pocket-sized pouch with a carabiner attached. There's nothing wrong with the product, per se. In fact, the convenience of being able to carry it on a key chain will no doubt ensure it gets used more frequently than the oops-I-left-it-hanging-on-my-doorknob variety. What irks me is the fact that there has arisen a whole new industry around reusable bags--probably the out-of-work makers and sellers of disposable plastic bags.

Everyone can agree that disposable plastic grocery bags are a bane to the environment: it's a waste of energy and resources to keep making them and it's a waste to keep filling landfills with them after their intended single use. Plastic takes eons to break down in a landfill and it's made from oil, a resource that took so many eons to form in the earth that it is non-renewable in human time. Reusable bags are definitely a better alternative, but they, too, have to be manufactured at a cost of resources and energy. Whether they're cotton or canvas or nylon, the raw materials come from somewhere and they will need to be in a constant state of replenishment. (Ahem... isn't nylon also a petroleum-derived synthetic? If sustainability is the goal of reusable bags, maybe they should be made exclusively of sustainable materials.)

It isn't as if everyone will be issued their ration of reusable bags, end of story. No, the bags will get lost, damaged, worn-out (hopefully from use) and people will need new ones. Thus, the reusable shopping bag industry is a necessary fact of 21st century life... or is it? Who doesn't own a back-pack, briefcase, or large handbag? If you carry one of these on a daily basis, you're already carrying a reusable bag! So use it!