Not So Eco-Friendly Reusable Bags

Not all reusable bags stack up as eco-friendly. Adrift in a world of perfectly good eco-friendly reusable bags are a slew of less eco-friendly, poorly made reusable bags that place more of a drain on the environment then you might think and that can cramp your eco-style in a big way.

Consider this:

Many store brand reusable bags aren’t made to last. However, they still take energy and materials to produce. Often, store brand bags aren’t made with eco-friendly materials, won’t carry a decent load of groceries, and most are not made with Fair Trade standards. You also can’t machine wash most store brand bags.

I’ve seen countless store brand reusable bags stuffed into friends closets never to be seen again. When asked, most pals say stuff like, “It won’t hold groceries anyhow” or “I can’t stand the logo.” I can’t tell you how many store-brand reusable bags I’ve seen totally fall apart after very few uses.

While the store would like you to believe that their brand reusable bag is a good idea, it’s really, in my opinion more of a marketing deal. One, the store plasters their logo across their bags and two, it’s an easy way to say, “LOOK how eco-friendly we are!” However, a bad reusable bag is not a solution it’s a problem. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s a worse problem than plastic or paper bags, both of which most likely take considerably less energy and materials to make.

Why people have them:

They’re cheap or free. You can score store brand reusable bags for less than a dollar in some cases and often stores even offer them for free. BUT I recently tested yet another store brand bag only to find that beyond the basic problems – i.e. it won’t carry any weight that it died after five uses. FIVE. Because the bag is made of some weird plastic/waxy/straw material I’m afraid to recycle it and I can’t reuse it for anything.

My awesome reusable bags

A better life cycle:

My favorite set of reusable bags is a set of ACME Bags – Lightweight Recycled Cotton Tote with Dual Handles. I bought eight bags and each cost about $6.22 which is a killer deal. Perks include nice flat bottoms, great brown color (they don’t show dirt), made with recycled cotton and Fair Trade standards, machine washable, long and short handles, and super long lasting.

I’ve had these bags since May 2008, so just a few months under two years and I’ve used them for almost every single grocery trip in that time. I do sometimes have to test other bags that companies send me, but overall, I’ve used these for everything for almost two years – groceries, overnight trips, library books, my son stuffs them full of pointy blocks and toys, and more. I use them on almost a daily basis and have washed them over and over again and they’re still going strong. Two of the bags recently developed small holes, which I need to sew, but I’m guessing these bags will last me at least another year as strictly bags, then I’ll cut them up and use them to clean with.

If you figure the full cost – $50 for a set of eight it’s a great deal because I use them almost daily. Since I’ve never seen a store brand bag last longer than five – ten uses, the flip side is spending $1.00 every ten days for a new store brand bag. At the end of two years I’d have collected about 150+ store brand bags and spent about $100-150+  (maybe more because most times I use more than one bag per grocery trip).

Not only are store brand or other cheap reusable bags a waste of money but an insane waste of materials. If you’re going the reusable bag route there is no point in buying cheap bags. Frankly, you don’t even need to buy expensive bags. Reusable Bags has plenty of bags under $10 a pop that will last you years.

Have you found reusable store brand bags that don’t fall apart? I never have, and I certainly haven’t seen store brand bags that last three years, but of course I haven’t tried them all. Let me know what you think. Hold up, my boyfriend notes that his Trader Joe’s bag is pretty good. I think it looks flimsier then mine, but yeah, better than most.

PS. In case you were wondering, nope, I don’t work for ACME bags, even get free gear from them, I just don’t see the point in wasting money.