Great Green Idea: Green Living: Join the Movement and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag)

Join the Movement and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag)

If your interest in doing your part to reduce your impact on the planet is growing, there are so many ways that you are able to make the environmentally friendly switch. We can look to the obvious areas of our lives, such as our homes, cars, and the type of energy we use to power the many things that make our world go round. But there are less obvious, and still very important areas of our lives that we can improve that will greatly reduce our burden on the planet.

A movement already in place, but continually growing in popularity is the BYOB, or Bring Your Own Bag Movement. Proponents of this movement encourage folks to purchase inexpensive, reusable bags and use those to hold their grocery purchases. This reduces the number of one-time use plastic or paper bags that will then go into the waste stream. Even if recycled, it is still better not to use these resources if we do not have to.

This movement is gaining ground amongst many stores who will give customers a small "bag discount" for bringing in their own bags. This helps grocers' bottom line as well, hence the incentive to bring your own bag.

Doing something this simple hardly seems like it would make a big impact, but just remember the power of small changes done by a large number of people - the outcome is much more impressive and indicative of how powerful such a tiny change is. You can easily keep these with you at all times as they generally fold up really easily and can be tossed in the backseat of your car, your book bag, or even a larger purse for on demand retrieval.

But the BYOB movement also stops a little short of reaching the fullness of the motto they promote. We need to extend this philosophy to many other areas of our life. We can use reusable tote bags for a huge variety of purchases from clothing to pet food.

However, there are still other aspects of your life where "Bringing Your Own" can really make a big difference. We all know the financial savings (and often the advantages to our waistlines) of bringing our lunch versus going out to eat every day. But bringing our lunch in disposable plastic or paper bags, with each item individually wrapped in plastic wrap, foil, or a plastic baggy is a waste of resources that we do not have to stand for.

Many companies make very "user friendly" adult "lunch boxes" that make bringing one's meals to work in a reusable container an easy task. Storage containers such as Bento Boxes or the Zojarushi lunch pail are multi-compartment storage devices that have a tough seal and are made for the person on the go. These lunch storage solutions are sleek and stylish, making them appropriate for even the highest ranked of business persons. By taking our own lunches in these reusable pails, we reduce the need for plastic wrap, baggies, and disposable carrying solutions. This reduces the introduction of one time use materials to the waste stream.

You can even take this one step further. Bring your Zojarushi, or the cute little Tiffin to-go container with you the next time you go out to eat. Rather than getting a disposable "doggie bag", use your reusable container to get your leftovers home.

By bringing your own bags, you reduce the amount of waste in the waste stream. You also reduce the number of plastic bags in circulation, which saves grocers and other stores money, savings that can be passed down to you. Using a reusable container to take your lunch or pack up your leftovers, you are also doing to your part to reduce the use of disposable, unsustainable forms of food storage. These little solutions add up to big and very positive changes, for the environment.