One step further into the green land

One of my accomplishments last year is that I finally used up all the plastic bags that was collected from many years of grocery shopping. The number of bags they can give you is insane! If you buy a chocolate bar, a piece of chicken breast and a bottle of detergent, you may get 3 bags because they don't want these items to pollute each other.

Using up all the plastic bags in that big bucket under the sink was always on my agenda but it was much tougher to complete this task then it seemed. I started to turn down bags when shopping. I always keep 3 tote bags in my car for grocery. After many months of "hard work", I finally succeeded. All my plastic bags were gone gone gone!

(It was amazing to observe how the attitude of the stores changed over the years too. Just a year back, some stores such as Wal-mart and the Bay refused to NOT giving me the bag. Now you get "thank you"s for not taking the bag. Nofrills even gives you grocery points if you bring your own bag.)

Not too long (a few minutes) after I celebrated the empty bucket under the sink, I realized that I had a problem. I needed a bag for the garbage. Most importantly, I needed a plastic bag. I didn't want to put garbage directly in the can and I didn't think paper bags would work well either.  So I bought bio-degradable bags.

Bio-degradable bags are made from vegetable and corn starch. They look just like plastic bags and are as strong and durable. Besides the fact that they are more expensive, especially compare to all the free bags from the grocery stores, the biggest complaint on the internet are that when in use, the break down process would start in a few days. Well, what do you expect? It's suppose to decompose! I don't have a problem with it at all. It's not a good idea to keep garbage indoor for more than 2 days anyways, or it will start to smell. It is a bit more pricy, but I am willing to make that "green" contribution.

I've been using these starch bags since summer 2007. I feel good.

Note: One thing you should watch out is that some of the "bio-degradable" bags are really "oxydegradable". Meaning they contain additives that cause the tissue to break down into smaller pieces when exposed to the correct light, heat and air conditions. These bags are still made from fossil fuel, which contributes to global warming. When they do eventually break down into miniscule pieces, this invisible, non-biodegradable waste stays in the environment as a pollutant. So definitely do your research before purchase.