Every year, 500 billion to a trillion plastic bags are consumed world-wide. Only 1-2% of those plastic bags ever get recycled, with most of them ending up in landfills and polluting the planet’s bodies of water. Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to break down. As they bio-degrade, they turn into small toxic plastic particles that wildlife mistake for food. More than a million birds and marine animals die every year from ingesting and getting entangled in plastic trash that is floating in the ocean.

Think it’s just a problem for the birds and fish? Consider this-Twelve million barrels of oil are used for every 100 billion of the plastic bags that are thrown away each year in this country. Think about that the next time you fill your car up with $3.60+ per gallon unleaded gasoline.

The next time you are asked,” Paper or plastic?”, how about saying,”No thank you!” (paper isn’t any better than plastic. It would take 14 million trees to make 10 billion paper grocery store bags.) The best alternative is to bring your own bags to the store. It’s not hard to do- you remember to bring your purse or wallet into the store, right? Keep several reusable bags in your trunk and one rolled up in your purse at all times. Over the course of a year, one grocery shopper uses about 300 plastic bags, if they take about 6-7 home with them every week. You will be saving this many per year from ending up in landfills and oceans. You will also be setting a good example for other shoppers to do the same.

You can find many nice, fashionable and affordable reusable bags once you start looking. Here are some places to get you started:

1.Your own closet-you probably already have some tote bags that will get you started on the road to being a eco-happy shopper.

2.Grocery Stores- they often have cheap reusable bags for sale. Whole Foods is even giving away free reusable bags to celebrate their discontinued use of plastic bags in their stores.

3.2nd Hand-You can find great bags at yard sales & thrift stores for cheap cheap cheap!

4.Etsy.com-My personal favorite place to shop- especially for eco friendly, well made, recycled products. There’s a wide selection of reusable grocery bags on Etsy- my favorites are the ones made out of vintage t-shirts!

5.Get creative-If you are lucky enough to know how to sew, have fun and make your own bags!

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