Recyclable AND Fashionable

In Union Square, there are 3 grocery stores within a few steps of each other. But today it’s not so much about what you buy or where you shop for food, but what you carry your groceries home in. “Paper or plastic?” is no longer as popular of a question as “credit or debit?” when you’re standing at the register. It is clear why the abundance of paper and plastic bags distributed to shoppers is extremely wasteful and can’t possibly be helping our environment.

Whole Foods Market advertises its “Better Bag,” made from recycled plastic bottles, for only 99 cents and otherwise provides 100% recycled and recyclable paper bags (with tips for other uses for the bags once you get home). Also, Whole Foods Market is providing refunds of at least 5 cents for each reusable bag that a customer provides. Whole Foods claims: “Plastic bags are petroleum based and they fill landfills, harm nature and litter our communities. Since it can take more than 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down in a landfill, polymers of every single plastic bag ever produced still exist on our planet. As they break down, plastic bags go through photodegradation—breaking down into small toxic particles that contaminate both soil and water, and end up entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. It takes roughly 430,000 gallons of crude oil to produce 100 million plastic bags, and in the U.S. alone, about 100 billion

Whole Foods Market’s effort sounds great, but “Going Green” in New York can end up being more about making a fashion statement and making big bucks off of trend than saving resources. I can’t help but think that many shoppers are carrying reusable totes for their shopping excursions more because they want to be seen supporting the cause than because they legitimately believe in it. Last year, Whole Foods also introduced a limited edition bag designed by “handbag guru Anya Hindmarsh” that read “I’m not a plastic bag” to help raise environmental awareness. They only cost $15 each and people lined up to buy them. How much are New Yorkers willing to pay to look fashionable and green at the same time? The company Leftover Bags designs organic-cotton bags that “feature a graphic that can define your style.” They retail for $38. Even Juicy Couture has hopped on the bandwagon with its “Go Green Icon Tote” for $75. Now that’s a lot of green to drop to “Go Green.”