@jeffcliff @Eris @CSB @PunishedD @becassine @coolboymew @deprecated_ii @marud @ooignignoktoo @parisc @parker @skylar You have to be very careful not to get caught up in ideas spit out by the environmental industrial complex. You end up doing damage while feeling like you're doing good. They'd prefer selling you something, but often the best choice doesn't sell anything new.
We know that cotton bags use substantially more fossil fuels to produce than a standard disposable shopping bag. you need to use a standard cotton bag hundreds of times to match the energy per-use. This is in large part because the bags are highly economical, using very little material and taking up very little weight.
Cotton bags are not perpetually reusable. In my experience, within a year or so you can expect them to rip and become unusable if you're using them on a regular basis. Thus, you have a very narrow margin to break even and start beating a disposable shopping bag.
If disposable shopping bags are already shockingly good ecologically for carrying groceries on a per-use basis if you throw them out immediately afterwards, what about if instead of looking like you're doing good, you just reuse disposable shopping bags a few times?
Suddenly, with no added marginal cost, you're reusing something that was previously disposable, and the ecological advantage it already held over alternatives becomes insurmountable. Hypothetically, if you reuse a disposable shopping bag 10 times, you're talking about needing your little cotton bag to stay together for thousands of uses to match the ecological impact of the reused disposable shopping bag.
The disposable shopping bag can also be used as a garbage bag closer of the end of its life, which replaces a single use disposable garbage bag.
Prior to the pandemic, we used this method, and it worked really well. Besides the ecological impact and not having to pay for new grocery bags every time, the disposable bags are much more convenient to store and keep in your car or handbag since they are made up of significantly less material.
We know that cotton bags use substantially more fossil fuels to produce than a standard disposable shopping bag. you need to use a standard cotton bag hundreds of times to match the energy per-use. This is in large part because the bags are highly economical, using very little material and taking up very little weight.
Cotton bags are not perpetually reusable. In my experience, within a year or so you can expect them to rip and become unusable if you're using them on a regular basis. Thus, you have a very narrow margin to break even and start beating a disposable shopping bag.
If disposable shopping bags are already shockingly good ecologically for carrying groceries on a per-use basis if you throw them out immediately afterwards, what about if instead of looking like you're doing good, you just reuse disposable shopping bags a few times?
Suddenly, with no added marginal cost, you're reusing something that was previously disposable, and the ecological advantage it already held over alternatives becomes insurmountable. Hypothetically, if you reuse a disposable shopping bag 10 times, you're talking about needing your little cotton bag to stay together for thousands of uses to match the ecological impact of the reused disposable shopping bag.
The disposable shopping bag can also be used as a garbage bag closer of the end of its life, which replaces a single use disposable garbage bag.
Prior to the pandemic, we used this method, and it worked really well. Besides the ecological impact and not having to pay for new grocery bags every time, the disposable bags are much more convenient to store and keep in your car or handbag since they are made up of significantly less material.
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@becassine @CSB @Eris @PunishedD @coolboymew @deprecated_ii @jeffcliff @marud @ooignignoktoo @parisc @parker @skylar That's impressive. I'm always shocked at how quickly our reusable bags start to disintegrate.