BYOB

I have been thinking of start taking a tote bag to the grocery stores, to reduce the use of plastics bags. Starting today, the following article gives me some motivation. I think carrying a bag (or bags) to groceries would be beneficial in three ways (1) it reduces plastics (2) carrying weight, rather than pushing a cart would be an exercise, and (3) Given the limited space, we tend to buy only essentials and potentially reduce purchase of junk stuff. Even if this process is inconvenient and might increase the number of grocery trips, I think that it is worth doing it.

Apparently BYOB translates a little differently in Sweden. At least for IKEA, the privately held assemble-it-yourself furniture chain and Swedish-meatball purveyor, the acronym now means “bring your own bag.” Beginning March 15, all of its U.S. stores will start charging five cents for each plastic bag that customers take their purchases home in. The idea is to encourage the masses to bring their own bags with an eye toward reducing litter—an explicit reminder that what was once free to the customer did not necessarily come without a greater cost.

Read the rest of this article on News Week.

I hope giant stores like Walmart and HEB would also start discouraging the use of plastic bags.