Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Lately, when I have been at the grocery store going through the checkout line, the clerk has not asked me the famous phrase “would you prefer paper or plastic?” I have been shocked as of late since the buzz about recycling and going green has become so popular. The two local grocery stores that I regularly shop at, one gives me plastic (Safeway) and the other paper (New Seasons) without any option, except if I was to bring my own reusable bag.

Two things have been very surprising to me when I am in the checkout line lately. The first being that at each checkout stand at Safeway there is a small stand full of reusable bags, which I believe are there to be purchased. Placed on every checkout line, all of the fixtures are completely full and it seems to me that they are being overseen and bypassed by the checkers and the consumer.

The second surprising thing that I have noticed is that when I go to New Seasons. Even though New Seasons donates 10% of their after-tax profits to non-profit organizations which include organizations who feed the hungry, educate youth, and improve our environment – they still use paper bags. It makes me wonder if they know the pros and cons of using paper or plastic products. If they were promoting good for the environment, you would think they would have reusable bags at the ends of their cashwraps promoting reusable bags and/or information to how paper and plastic bags effect our environment.

For those of us, including myself that have yet purchased reusable grocery bags, here is a website that I found that has many sizes, shapes, and colors of reusable bags which start at a low price of $4.95. These bags are supposed to last years and some grocery stores even give you five cents off when you use a reusable bag when you buy groceries. Therefore, using this bag for about a year and a half will eventually pay for itself as well as helping improve our environment!

Reusable bag site: http://www.greenfeet.com/nav.asp?Category=Bags+%26+Accessories