Are Durango shoppers adjusting to reusable bags?
Inhabitants provide advice on how to remember to bring reusable shopping bags and keep them always in a good condition.
Durango resident Jim Shoultz wants to use reusable bags instead of single-use plastic bags which are generally acknowledged to be the main contributors of the environmental degradation. However, the change has been tricky ever since Colorado’s new bag fee went into force Jan. 1.
Shoultz stated that he has purchased reusable bags, but he keeps forgetting them in his truck, resulting he frequently gets hit with a 10-cent bag fee at area grocery stores.
“I’ve paid probably close to $2 in bag fees since it (the law) came into effect,” Shoultz lamented Sunday while checking out at South City Market.
Shoultz is not alone. According to grocery store personnel, hundreds of shoppers have been amazed by the habit of bringing reusable bags although a number of people have been doing it for a long time. Here are some offered simple tips for remembering the reusable bags and caring for them.
Tips for remembering the reusable bags and keeping them clean
City Market shopper Mike Guerin said cleaning the reusable bags is the most crucial aspect of utilizing them. Guerin has been using reusable bags for a few years and said he likes the cloth bags best. He cleans them using a combination of water and disinfectant (usually Tide) to remove any food or germs that may be left over after use. Besides, he also tries to remember to bring his reusable bags whenever he leaves the house, but in case he forgets to take them, he will buy a new reusable grocery bag. He said they’re great for storage.
Shopper Joellen Valencia claimed that because her bags are not made of fabric and cannot be cleaned effectively, she doesn't clean them. To keep them clean, she uses a moist towelette to wipe them out both before and after usage. The reusable bags have been used intermittently by Valencia for roughly a year and a half. Like many other people, she keeps them in her vehicle. And if she forgets, she pays the fee for the plastic bag or purchases another reusable bag. She said she’s seen some people take loose grocery items in their cart and load them into boxes in their car, including at Walmart, which no longer offers plastic bags. Valencia finds the reusable choice to be durable and affordable. She’s had one of her reusable bags for two years and hasn’t had problems with wear and tear.
The state of Colorado plans to completely ban single-use plastic bags from large retailers by 2024, and some, like Walmart, have already made the switch by doing away with plastic bags. (Tyler Brown/Durango Herald)
“It’s going to keep waste from going to the dump and it won’t go back into the ground and that’s what they (the state) are really looking for,” Valencia said.
For Shoultz, it was his first day using the reusable bags. He said his plan is to keep the bags in his car at all times – and to remember to bring them into the store – to avoid paying unnecessary fees. He also has a cabinet dedicated to storing reusable bags in his house so he can find more if needed. He said he feels guilty whenever he uses the plastic bags because he knows they’re the driving causes of the increasingly poor environmental situations. The amount of waste the plastic bags produce bothers him. The bag fee was necessary to effect change, he said, otherwise many people would go on using single-use bags.
“I see them all over, especially if you go down to New Mexico and see all of the plastic bags hanging on fences,” he said.
Most grocery store locations offer take-back bins near the entrance so customers can return plastic bags for recycling purposes once they are done using them.
Durango has four locations where plastic bags can be recycled including both City Markets, Walmart and Albertsons. Albertsons is selling two reusable bags for $3, while City Market is selling them for 99 cents per bag and Walmart is offering them for 74 cents per bag.
Credit: The Durango Herald
TLPPACKAGING FOR SHOPPING BAGS
