On 1/4/2020 at 7:25 PM, ben2talk said:

Cloth bags (mostly cotton) are not the best - for the environment I think the best re-usable bags are the lightweight recycled woven plastic style bags which are not only far cheaper, longer lasting, and much more environmentally friendly to produce.

 

 

Really? I would think a hemp bag would be the best.... Doesn't it take petroleum to make a plastic bag, whether or not it was from a recycled bag to begin with?

Forty years ago I was a cashier at a major supermarket chain in the states. There was a guy who would come in and take all of the food he bought out of the containers and put it in his own containers and leave the big mess right there. Pretty funny. But making a big statement.

There is a growing number of 'zero waste' shops in the UK. These shops have dry products in bulk that you weigh out yourself and put into your own container.  You can also fill up shampoo bottles, washing up liquid etc.

You can also, of course, buy containers in the shops if your don't have your own.

My daughter uses these shops regularly and she tells me the cash saving is considerable as well as reducing the plastic.

On 1/4/2020 at 1:05 PM, meand said:

It is not that simple unfortunately, when you take everything into account. The irony here is the traditional plastic bags everyone is trying to get rid of are actually quite effective due to how thin they are. A cotton bag has to be used over 7,000 times to be as environmentally friendly as a single use plastic bag. I doubt most of us would get to 7k. Hard to argue reusing things is bad but i think the answers are more complex than we think. 

 

https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-worse-than-plastic/

Just rubbish.

The issue is biodegradability...

Cloth bags...if they end up in the ocean or the river will degrade..