In all of the research I've been doing over the past few months on ways to decrease petroleum dependency, I've come to learn that using plastic bags is one of the biggest contributors to unecessary petroleum use. I was shocked and appauled by some of these startling statistics:

• Plastic bags are made of polyethylene which is a petroleum product
• Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year
• Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled
• It takes 1,000 years for polyethylene bags to break down
• Approximately 1 billion seabirds and mammals die per year by ingesting plastic bags

While all information is extremely startling, don't worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel...





REUSABLE BAGS!






Baggu makes these great shopping bags made of 100% Ripstop nylon. They hold the contents of 2-3 plastic bags! AND...best of all it comes in 34 different colors!





I own this bag in another color and I LOVE IT. It fits SO much and better yet, it's made of organic material. The company that makes this brilliant bag, Beau Soleil, uses fabric made out of bamboo, vegetable-dyed organic cottons and vintage, tencel, which is made from eucalyptus tress, as well as recycled leather trims.





Even if you bring reusable bags with you when you're shopping, that doesn't mean you can put plastic bags full of things inside of them! That's why it's important to be a few more steps ahead and get some reusable produce bags. These Flip & Tumble ones have a drawstring and come in sets of 5...PERFECT!





It's hard to find a comparable replacement for Ziploc bags but there are options out there. These Lunchskins are made of certified food-safe fabric, hand-sewn in the USA, lead-free, bpa-free, and phthalate-free!

You can literally make a statment by carring Blue Q's slogan-clad bags. Blue Q bags are made by taking old grain sacks and plastic water bottles, grinding them up, heating them into a type of thread, which is then woven to create a super-strong 95% post-consumer recycled polypropylene material.