You probably have your reasons for responding however you do. Perhaps you intend to recycle or repurpose that paper bag, or perhaps you use those plastic shopping bags for household cleaning. You might believe that your decision paper or plastic is the more environmentally beneficial one. In actuality, though, whether you choose paper or plastic, regardless of your intentions, you’re still making the wrong decision because there is a superior option available: a reusable grocery bag.

There is a growing trend across the nation encouraging customers to buy and bring their own reusable bags to the store to use as carriers for their goods. Why exactly do plastic bags harm the environment? There are several causes. Plastic bags pose several issues for the health of the planet, from their production to their unsuitability for recycling to their propensity to wind up in landfills, or worse, out of them, and the lengthy time it takes for them to degrade.

Reusable food bags can be recycled and, assuming they don’t end up in a landfill, degrade more quickly, so they avoid some of the drawbacks of plastic bags. However, paper bags are either created from trees, which should be preserved, or from recycled materials, which need a lot of energy to make. These are a few general justifications for using reusable.

Reusable bags can help you save money in a variety of ways, including your own pocket. A growing number of retailers are starting to charge more for plastic bags. Every time you shop for groceries, a new clothing, or do errands, you may save money by bringing your own reusable bag. If they don’t charge for plastic, many stores will reward you for bringing your own bag. In any case, you are saving money with every transaction.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable, require natural gas and crude oil to make, and more fossil fuels are needed to transport them. By using a reusable bag, you not only cut down on the non-renewable resources needed to make plastic bags, but you also cut down on the amount of money your neighborhood pays in annual clean-up expenses.

Plastic bags occupy a lot of space and frequently clutter your home, car, and office. Consider this: If you bring home 5 shopping bags’ worth of food each week, you will have brought home 260 bags annually. That only applies to groceries. Your kitchen cupboards, pantry, and automobile become cluttered as a result of the plastic bags, taking up space that could be used for other, more significant items instead of the rubbish that we can’t bear to get rid of.

Reusable bags, even if they are bigger than a plastic shopping bag, can be folded up and ultimately wind up taking up far less room than your guilty stockpiling of plastic bags. You’ll only have three or four reusable bags to choose from rather than the 20 to 50 disposable bags that are lying around your home.