small steps, smaller footprints

 

Americans spend billions of dollars on plastics annually, with the average American individual consuming thousands of individual plastic items each year. We take plastic for granted, but plastics are energy-intensive. Surprisingly, the amount of petroleum used to produce just a dozen plastic shopping bags is roughly equivalent to the amount of petroleum used to produce the gasoline used to drive a car one mile. As if littering the environment with plastic wasn't bad enough, this is yet another reason to bring your reusable receptacles with you to the store. In addition to steering clear of plastic shopping bags, you should become more selective with your purchasing habits and avoid goods that are plastic- and packaging-intensive. Bring refillable containers with you for bulk food and other items. As a consumer, your purchasing preferences determine the decisions of corporations, such as whether to use plastic packaging in their goods. Reducing your consumption of plastic packaging and avoiding single-use shopping bags will send a market signal and will save you pound after pound of carbon dioxide. If you do not already own reusable bags, you do not need to buy any. You can tie off a couple of old shirts, use an old duffle bag, or find any number of creative ways to avoid unnecessary consumption of materials. Some people roll their entire shopping cart full of un-bagged items up to the trunk of their car and unload everything directly into their trunk. When they go home, they just bring out a container to transfer everything into their home. To some, bags are an inconvenience and a waste of time. The impact of eliminating single-use bags from your life and being more mindful of the plastics you consume is:

​