Recycle, Reduce & Reuse

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most environmentally aware person around. But I was shocked at the number of plastic bags supermarkets here hand out. They only bag 3-4 items in each & then, they double bag it.

The excuse that these bags are reused as trash bags can only go so far cos I've stopped taking any for more than a month now & I still have lots to spare.

In France, everybody bring their own shopping bags. I have 5-6 huge ones which I keep in the car & if you need plastic bags, you'll have to pay for them. I find it so much more convenient using one big bag than several small flimsy bags. Unfortunately I didn't pack them over but shortly after I arrived, I went out & bought these.

This is an Envirosax with lots of cute & cool designs to choose from. They roll up into a small ball (in the top picture). I have this in my bag all the time. It's super lightweight & thus looks flimsy but they supposedly hold up to 25 kg.

While shopping for the Envirosax, I came across this one from Reisenthel (the makers of my beloved basket) and I couldn't resist buying another one. You see, it matches......

....... my shopping cart. This, I brought over from France. Everybody seem to have one & understandably so cos it's such a practical way of lugging heavy groceries from the supermarket back home.

I didn't use one before because I drove but here, I use it every weekend when I do my grocery shopping. It can even fit a small cooler bag for ice-cream or frozen food.

The other purpose of using a shopping cart is so you can cut down on plastic bags which makes me just a tad annoyed when I see people pushing shopping carts laden with plastic bags.

I may not be making a big impact but baby steps, everyone baby steps.