The Hypocracy of Green Tote Bags

At this point, everyone's at least seen the tote bags that the grocery store is pushing on people. They are better for the environment and people are buying them up. One of my co-workers has to have about a dozen or so of them from all over the place. So now he has a bunch of these bags, uses them, and is helping the environment. One day I had a bug up my ass about those bags and we had a little dialog, it went like this:

Me: "But what do you put your garbage in?"
CW: "Garbage bags"
Me: "Like plastic ones, tall kitchen bags?"
CW: "Yeah!"
Me: "And you buy those at the store?"
CW: "Yeah"
Me: "So you're supporting the industry that makes the plastic bags by giving them money?"
CW: "Wow, I never thought about it that way"

Yep, supporting the enemy so to speak. I've since asked many tote using folks that same question, and the answer is always the same. Personally speaking, I reuse the plastic bags exclusively for garbage. The diaper pail, the kitchen and bathroom, and even one hanging behind the door in the office. I know the plastic bags are bad for the environment, and I'm even starting to think I need a tote or two for my "bumper" trips to the store during the week, but switching to them exclusively would result in me not having anything to put my non-compostable waste in. And so the vicious cycle would continue. If only the stores I frequent provided the compostable starch bags.