Why Reusable Bags?
A November 2007 article in Fast Company stated, “After the plastic water bottle, you couldn’t do much better than the plastic shopping bag as a symbol of American consumerism run amok. We go through 380 billion a year. About 5.2% get recycled; in landfills, they could last 1,000 years. Bags are made from oil, and our bag habit costs us 1.6 billion gallons each year.”
But What About Paper?
Before you start calculating how many trips you’ll have to make from the hatchback of your hybrid car to your kitchen in order to get all those groceries in the house (I hope you’re wearing your pedometer), let’s look a bit closer at those cumbersome paper bags.
Compared to plastic, making a paper bag emits 70% more global warming gases, creates 50 times more water pollution, uses 4 times more raw materials, and consumes 3.5 times more energy.
How Can One Person Make a Difference?
We have an idea! Each of our reusable bags is designed to:
- Be used weekly for 2 years or more
- Replace up to 416 plastic bags over its lifetime
Added together, these small efforts add up to big changes!
Mercy and Good Will (right), Infinity mascots, have been taking their ACCF reusable bags to the grocery store and the mall. They also keep several in their car for shopping “emergencies”. Good Will asked that we let other “tall” drivers know that reusable bags are far less likely to blow out the moonroof! A common problem, Will says, for flamingos who like fresh air and often drive with their heads outside the car.
All proceeds from the sale of our reusable bags benefit Infinity, a component fund of the Armstrong County Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
