Saving Money and the Environment, One Bag at a Time

With the current economic problems, hopefully more people are interested in saving money and recycling. Businesses are always interested in keeping the customers they have and getting new ones.

The cost of fuel has been big in the news for years but, when compared to plastics, it’s a small percentage of petrochemical use. Saving on the use of petrochemicals for making plastics can extend the timeframe before peak oil and lower the price of fuels.

Most grocery stores offer a five cent per bag discount if you bring in your bags. You can do that in a variety of ways. One is by taking the old plastic bags back and another is using cloth bags, which can often be purchased at the store. Usually, grocers will sell cloth bags with their advertising on them at their cost, which is cheaper than an equivalent type bag can be purchased elsewhere. By doing that, the grocer gets their investment back and advertisement as well. If your grocer doesn’t have a program of that type, tell them about the advertising value and mention that you take your bags everywhere, including their competitor’s store.

If you don’t want to spend the money on cloth bags, reuse your old plastic ones. Plastic bags aren’t as durable as cloth and it’s a good practice to double bag when using a plastic bag more than once or twice.

We’ve found cloth bags to be a good investment. Most of our bags are almost twenty years old. If we save two cents a bag and buy ten bags of groceries, and do that five times a month, we’ve saved a dollar a month. That doesn’t sound like much but our cloth bags paid for themselves the first year, with the last eighteen plus years being pure savings.

Tying the bags off keeps the goods inside from spilling all over the trunk on the way home. But, tying them off presents another problem. Getting them untied, especially the plastic bags, can be difficult if not impossible. Most people consider it not worth the effort and rip them apart. There’s a simple answer to that problem. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have a brief slide show that explains the process. Once the bags are tied in the manner I show in the pictures, they untie easily and can be used over and over.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have put together a slide show tutorial. You can access the slide show by going to the URL in the resource box.

Helpful health, how-to, travel and automotive information can be accessed by going to http://www.newliferoadmap.com


Solar-Powered Android Coming Soon? – GoodCleanTech

ZTE has revealed in an interview that it is thinking of releasing solar-powered phone installed with a Google Android OS.


Hotel Industry Adopts Solar to Save Energy · Environmental Leader …

As consumers demand more eco-friendly vacation choices, the tourism industry is responding with energy-efficient and carbon friendly resorts and hotels. In the US.


China's GCL-Poly Energy makes $3.4 billion solar buy | Cleantech Group

Shares soar 15 percent as power company announces plans to acquire polysilcon and wafer maker Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development.


Solar stimulus plan « Senate Majority Caucus

This unique alliance reflects the fact that solar makes sense for Hawai’i. Already a $200 million industry in 2008, solar is now responsible for 2000 jobs statewide. With SB 464 in place, the solar industry could triple in 2009, …


Instapundit » Blog Archive » LOOKING BACK ON GOING SOLAR, after a …

LOOKING BACK ON GOING SOLAR, after a year’s experience. â??It’s been nearly a full year since we had our 6.1KW solar power system installed. During that year, we experienced the peak of summer and the low point of winter. …

Leave a Reply

Categories
Links: