There’s no denying it, with food and grocery shopping comes an insane amount of trash and waste. Grocery bags, packaging, produce bags, cans, paper, a reciept. The bananas are even wrapped in plastic in some stores (it’s not like they come with their own biodegrable packing or anything?). With all the mounting evidence of climate change piling up, we have a serious problem. One easy way to to help make a difference on an individual level is to reduce our reliance on plastic. Although no one person can do it all, if we all do it together we can help enact some serious changes.
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As a family, we’re definitly not perfect, and create far more waste than I wish that we did. By stepping back and taking a good hard look at exactly what was going into our trashcan every week, I was able to determine that by far the biggest waste producer was food and all the packaging that comes with it. Tackling waste in the kitchen was my first priority when switching to a greener lifestyle.
One of the easiest swaps you can make is refusing single use produce bags and using reusable cloth ones instead. I’ve used quite a few different ones, and even made my own, but after using these bags by Shaka Love, I’ve been exclusively using them.
The Shaka Love bags are made the USA from sustainably sourced, organic cotton. They come in a variety of sizes and closures including a drawsting closure and a bab with long handles that allows you place the bag up on your shoulders. The long handle bags even include some Hawaiian sayings to remind you of your love for the earth.
These bags are easy to use, super cute and lightweight. They’re easy to see through when cashiers ring them up in the store, plus lightweight enough I’m not concerned about paying extra money when something is paid by weight. But if you’re lucky enough to have access to a store that deducts the tare weight, it’s printed right on the back of the box.
The hardest part of using these bags… is remembering to bring them. It’s taken a while, but once I got into the habit of putting away my produce and immediately taking these back into my car, it became easier. I’m lucky enough to have room to store these in my car so I always have them. If you’re not lucky enough to do that, I suggest storing them someplace close to your keys.
Although it may seem like a small thing, if everyone were to switch to reusable produce bags, or even just stop using them together it would make a huge difference. Imagine how many single use plastic bags would just be gone.
The Shaka Love bags are available for purchase on Amazon.com. Make the switch away from single use plastic with style.
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