Steps to eliminate plastic bags from your life

Few weeks ago we reflected on why ban plastic bags and the steps different cities and countries were taking in order to end its use.

As we have already mentioned, we want this to be a positive blog where we, all together, can take small steps to eradicate our dependence on disposable plastic.

What can we do to reduce our use of plastic bags on a daily basis?

We propose you these ten actions to achieve it:

  1. Rethink: Every change needs two things: stop and think. We promote responsible consumption against impulse buying. Thinking when we shop and what to buy will help us predict the bags we will need. And for unexpected purchases we always can carry a cloth bag with us.

  2. Respect: We are part of environment. We can not detach ourselves from nature. Respect our environment is respect ourselves. Taking care of it is investing in our health. Today, plastic bags seem insignificants because they are everywhere. Do not throw them to the ground. Use the bins, recycling containers or your local waste facilities for recycling.

  3. Reduce: The most important step in our fight against garbage is not generating it. We must learn to consume only what is necessary and purchase items that do not come with the added burden of over-packaging. Buy your fruits and vegetables in bulk and weigh them in your own cloth bags or preserve your bread in cotton bags.

  4. Reject: We must learn to say… “no thanks”. People who attend us in shops try to please us wrapping and bagging the items we buy. Offer them your cloth bags and reject, politely, the plastic bags they offer to us.

  5. Reuse:We must change our habits and leave behind single-use bags. Cotton, hemp, jute, esparto grass… there are many natural materials that you can use in your bags. They do not break or fall apart so easily. You can use and reuse them once and again.

  6. Repair. Retrieve. Restore: Who gives more? Three Rs to tell you what gets broken can be repaired. Glue, needle and thread, a nut here, a cable there… and everything works again. Cloth bags can last a life and be redecorated with patches and stickers.

  7. Rummage and rediscover: Give a second chance to things. And if you are the type of person that keeps everything because you have a large attic, check it occasionally. What you put yesterday away, be sure that will be in vogue tomorrow: grandmother’s basket, the sackcloth bag you brought from grandpa’s village, the shoe bag from that hotel…

  8. Recycle: And when your bag actually is at the end, do not get rid of it as if you do not care. If you have followed our advice, that bag will be part of the family. Take it to the recycling center or to the textile container.

  9. Share your responsibility: If you really believe in what you are doing, it will be very easy to share it among your friends. Tell them your progress, change of life and new habits. Encourage them to improve their quality of life.

A bag is nothing when does not carry things. A bag suggests shapes, gives a hint of objects, tells a story. A bag can show up naked or with a phrase that encourages you to think, to act. We invite you to refill your bag with useful and quality objects, with healthy food, with organic goods from fair trade.

Author: Javier Barrios

The dreamer and activist

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