If you're one of the millions of people in the world that still comes home from the store with plastic bags full of groceries, you should reconsider your methods.  Have you ever wondered about all of the waste that accumulated when all of us use 10-20 plastic bags every week?  If not, here's some food for thought...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that US citizen generated over 250 million tons of garbage in 2006.  Most of that trash was the kind of stuff you throw out every week, but it also included things like lawn clippings, old tires, and freezers.  That number does not include commercial waste.

And while we recycled over 82 million tons of municipal solid waste (saving the energy equivalent of 10 billion gallons of gasoline), we still discarded 3 pounds of waste per person per day. The EPA further estimated that 55 to 65 percent of all municipal solid waste was residential waste, while 35 to 45 percent was commercial waste from schools, hospitals and businesses.

Despite their small size and light weight, plastic bags are one of the most common pieces of trash, which is unfortunate considering they take over 1,000 years to degrade in landfills.  In the spring of 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the US to ban the use of non-biodegradable bags (the bags you regularly bring home are likely NOT biodegradable).  Again, this is a step in the right direction, but the best solution is the use of %LINK%. 

For the record, don't think that switching to paper bags instead is much better.  Paper compromises a larger part of our waste than plastic, requires more energy to produce, and causes more pollution to the atmosphere than plastic. 

Reusable bags made of cotton, hemp, and other materials offer a more environmentally-conscious alternative to plastic and disposable (paper) bags. By incorporating reusable bags into our daily activities, it is possible for each individual to eliminate thousands of plastic bags that would otherwise be used and added to the waste in our landfills, streams, waterways and oceans.

It's estimated that an average person can save thousands of paper and/or plastic bags from entering the waste stream by beginning to use reusable shopping bags in their daily lives.  Today, you can find reusable bags in any sort of style and color you want, adding a bit of individuality to your shopping experience.