Have you shifted from having heaps of plastic bags in your house to now having tons of reusable bags? I know I have, and I am not proud of it!
This got me thinking, which is better? The old, single-use plastic bags? Or, the new, reusable grocery bags that most of us now have? As you will find out, the answer to this question is a bit murky!
What happened to the plastic bag?
As many of you know, the Federal Government of Canada banned the manufacture or import of single-use plastics, such as cutlery, stir sticks, straws, and take-out containers as of December 20th, 2022. Single-use, plastic checkout bags were included on this list for all establishments. The full ban came into effect on December 20th, 2023 when stores were technically no longer allowed to provide customers with these bags. As a result, sellers and consumers mostly switched to reusable or paper bags.
Plastic Bags 101
You may be surprised to learn that plastic bags actually require a smaller carbon footprint to produce than reusable and paper bags. Manufacturers also produce them at a lower cost.
So why do plastic bags have such a bad rap?
At some point in your life, you have likely seen plastic bags floating through the air while you were out for a walk. You have probably also noticed many tossed carelessly into ditches or scattered across lawns. In reality, Canadians threw away more than 15 billion plastic bags every year. Many of these bags ended up in landfills or littered the environment. Statistics Canada estimates that over 14 billion plastic bags entered the Canadian environment between 2012 and 2020.
Although some regions allow residents to recycle plastic bags, many people choose not to do so. In addition, recycling facilities struggle to process them because the bags often blow out of recycling bins or become tangled in machinery.
Manufacturers make plastic bags from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which breaks down into microplastics. These microplastics enter animals and marine life, contaminate water sources, soil, and air, and now exist almost everywhere in the environment—even in drinking water and food. Plastic bags also serve a single-use purpose because they tear easily. While you might reuse one once or twice, most do not last very long.
Welcome, the Reusable Bag!
Nowadays, shoppers see reusable grocery bags in nearly every big-box store in Canada. Stores often display them at self-checkout stations and cashier lanes.
Despite this fact, have our consumer habits actually changed? Or have they stayed the same?
Unfortunately, many people still treat reusable bags as single-use items. Shoppers often buy brand-new reusable bags at checkout instead of bringing the ones they already own. As a result, many of us have an excessive number of these bags stuffed in our cars, homes, and closets. Sound familiar?
So why does this happen?
The simple answer is that many of us forget to bring our bags into the store. We leave them at home or in the car, which can be incredibly frustrating. Research shows that it takes 21 to 61 days to form a new habit, so we are still in the process of making this behavior routine. Over time, however, remembering to bring reusable bags will become normalized—arguably, it already has—and eventually feel like second nature.
What's the scoop on reusable bags?
So, here’s the interesting information…reusable bags take considerably more energy to produce compared to plastic bags. For instance, cotton bags obviously require cotton. This crop often uses a lot of pesticides and water to grow. An individual needs to use this type of bag a minimum of 100 times or more to offset its carbon footprint. Also, manufacturing cotton bags is costly.
Another kind of reusable bag is made out of non-woven polypropylene and is often sold in big-box stores. It contains plastic and, therefore, cannot fully breakdown, leaving microplastic in the environment. An individual must use this kind of bag at least 11 times to offset its carbon footprint. These types of bags are cheaper to produce compared to cotton bags.
What else can you use to hold groceries?
Other popular packing containers include both plastic bins and boxes. If you tend to do large grocery shopping trips, a plastic bin may be a logical choice for you. They can be used indefinitely, hold a substantial amount of food, protect fragile food items, are durable, and they fit well into cars. Obviously, they require a lot of energy to manufacture, but can be used over and over again.
Additionally, cardboard boxes can also be a great option, especially when grocery stores are trying to repurpose them for clients to take. Boxes can be reused and biodegrade over time. They are also easily recycled. The downfall is that they do not hold up well in wet weather!
Lastly, many grocers and stores have adopted paper bags for customers to purchase or to take. Paper bags take four times the amount of water to produce compared to plastic bags, and they also require trees from tree farms that use numerous fertilizers and chemicals. An individual needs to use a paper bag at least three times to offset its carbon footprint.
Generally, paper bags cannot be made out of recycled materials because they require new, longer and stronger fibers to hold weight. As you know, paper bags often do break or tear. They also do not like to come into contact with any rain or leaking liquids! ugh! The flip-side is that these bags are biodegradable and can be fashioned into compost bags. Furthermore, they are easily recycled!
Bags, Bags, and More Bags!
So, you may be wondering which bag has the least negative environmental impact and is most sustainable overall? I think that most of us would agree that even though the plastic bag initially has less environmental footprint, they literally contaminate every surface on our Earth. Consider this, how many plastic bags did you used to use, on average, every week at the grocery store. Three? Four? Five? Ten? Now, times that by 52 weeks in a year. I bet it was a heck of a lot of plastic bags! Many of which ended up in landfills and in nature.
Now, suppose that you used the same number of bags every week, but replaced them with reusable bags? Technically, you should be able to fill those same bags continuously for months, if not longer. Instead of wasting 100s of bags in a year, you’d have maybe 5-10 reusable bags in total. Even though, at first, they are less environmentally friendly to make, they can last so much longer and significantly reduce waste.
Final Thoughts
So, what to do next? I am going to share with you what I am going to do. First of all, I am going to go through all the reusable bags that I currently have stored at home and in my car. I will set aside 5 to 10 of my best bags and give them a good wash. Apparently, bacteria can build-up in these bags and it is advised to wash them frequently. Next, I will put them in my vehicle so that they are ready to go for the next shopping trip. I will make a concerted effort NOT to forget them when I enter a store. To be honest, I am pretty good at this now and take reusable bags into all stores, not just the grocery store. I will use these bags for as long as possible.
After that, I will sort through the remainder of my bags and set aside any clean, gently used ones. Places like the Food Bank, Salvation Army, and Goodwill accept reusable bags that are still in good condition. I will donate these bags so that they can be re-circulated.
At the end of the day, individuals should select the bag or container that they can fill multiple times. Perhaps, this is a tote bag that is already kicking around the house, or thrifting reusable bags is another great idea. If you already have tons of reusable bags like me, go through them, donate the ones you don’t need, and get using the ones you keep, regularly! This will help maintain these reusable bags in circulation and to reduce unnecessary waste.
If you’d like to read my article, Canada’s Shocking Amount of Waste, please click here.
Sources Cited
Draft Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution Confirms Negative Impact of Plastic Pollution on the Environment in Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Government of Canada. January 30, 2020. Draft Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution confirms negative impact of plastic pollution on the environment in Canada – Canada.ca
Merante, Anthony. Change is here: Canada’s ban on certain harmful single-use plastics start to take effect this month. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Government of Canada. December 17, 2022. Change is here: Canada’s ban on certain harmful single-use plastics starts to take effect this month – Canada.ca
Miller, Robyn. Reusable bags were supposed to help save the environment, but only if shoppers bring them. CBC News. January 24,2024. Reusable bags were supposed to help save the environment, but only if shoppers bring them | CBC News
Sustainable Shopping-Which Bag is Best? National Geographic. Sustainable Shopping—Which Bag Is Best?
Thomas, Lauren. What to Do with All Those Reusable Bags. Environmental Defence. June 23, 2023. What to Do with All Those Reusable Bags – Environmental Defence
Thompson, Claire. Paper, Plastic or Reusable? Stanford Magazine. September, 2017. Paper, Plastic or Reusable? | STANFORD magazine
