When you go into Whole Foods or Jewel or Mariano’s – and you bring your shopping cart up to the cash register – the clerk will say “paper or plastic.” Donna and I normally opt for paper. We take the groceries home, put them away and fold the paper bag(s) and save them. The plastic bags we put in recycling.

Lately, however, we’ve been keeping the double paper bags and putting them back in the car. And when we go to Whole Foods, Jewel or Mariano’s, we bring them in and hand them to the clerk – to reuse. Clerk fills them up. And we hoof them out to the car. And repeat. . . . Seriously – these paper bags have a significant life span. And we don’t have to deal with the environmental issues relating to plastics. Plastic bags can normally be recycled but from what I understand, the recycling of plastic isn’t all that efficient. Interestingly, some communities now ban plastic bags. And some stores now charge for each bag!

Over the years, we have also acquired a number of those fabric bags that some places give out as freebies. So we’ve been using those to haul our groceries as well. We keep ’em in the car. We have our own bags, thank you. And everyone wins. So from now on, when the clerk says “paper or plastic” – respond “we have our own bags – thank you.”