• SCB@lemmy.world
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 years ago

    Fun fact:

    In terms of total greenhouse gas emissions, you’d generally have to use around 400 disposable bags made from sustainable products to equal one reusable tote.

    This is because the vast majority of those totes are imported from southeast Asia.

    • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I have been using the same two cotton bags for 15 plus years. By my count that is at least 4,000 single use bags that have not been used.

      The best time to plant a tree start using non-plastic bags is twenty years ago.

      The second best time is today.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
        cake
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Even better, let’s start making reusable totes in the US and cut that ratio down, so this is no longer true.

        I can say, with insider knowledge, that the reusable packaging industry could start cranking out totes any time, should demand (or, better, legislation) prove sufficient.

        Wouldn’t hurt the industry at all, either, as sustainable single-use packaging - much of which is shifting to paper -is heavily on the rise

        Sustainable packaging has almost unlimited growth potential and is seeing massive private investment, and we should leverage that market to curb both pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

        • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 years ago

          The ones I use were made locally, from cotton produced in this country so the threshold is way lower than 400.

          To go one step further, make them yourself out of old cotton clothing.