Environmental Tip of the Week

Buy a reusable grocery bag or save grocery bags and reuse them next time you go to the store. Here are some facts from the Sierra Club:

• Reusing a bag meant for just one use has a big impact. A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
• In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by 5 million lbs. and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
• Plastic bags carry 80% of the nation's groceries, up from 5% in 1982.
• When 1 ton of paper bags is reused or recycled, 3 cubic meters of landfill space is saved and 13 - 17 trees are spared! In 1997, 955,000 tons of paper bags were used in the United States.
• When 1 ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.

These facts can be found here

Also, items such as jam jars or frappuccino bottles can be reused to hold homemade sauces and salad dressings. I use my jam jars as cups actually…but that’s another story…