Bag It

Paper or plastic?  In my home state of New Jersey, neither is an option any more.

New Jersey's law mandating reusable shopping bags goes into effect today, and that means supermarkets no longer give out paper bags or plastic bags that can be used once and thrown away.  It's all about sustainability and helping the environment..  While reusable bags can last for years, plastic bags have a short lifespan and never biodegrade, while paper bags are heavy and get made from trees that get cut down.  

In my house, we save paper bags in plastic bags to use as garbage bags for the kitchen, but we're now going to reuse them at the supermarket for as long as we can until we run out. After that, we have no idea what we're going to do with the garbage.  Although, by then, I hope that we live so sustainably that we don't have to throw out so much.