The Plastic Bag Challenge

Just over a month ago, my family and I decided we needed to reduce our use of plastic bags. We were already really good at not using plastic bags, because we usually use reusable bags. But when we forgot those, either because they're in the car or because we left them at home, we just used paper/plastic bags. There were occasions when we all went out and my brother and i just bought a couple of small things, and we'd be given a bag, which was really unecessary.

So the Plastic Bag Challenge we came up with goes like this: for every plastic bag you bring into the house, you pay a $0.25 fine. We decided that we would collect these coins in a jar, and count them up after a couple months, and see how we've been doing. The money would then go to charity. How are we doing? Well, after 5 weeks, we only have $1.25! Thats about one plastic bag per week, which I think is pretty good.

The hardest time for me was going shopping with friends. We went out for a few hours one weekend, and I bought a lot of stuff, but I forgot a reusable bag. Somehow, though, I managed to keep everything in one bag, so only paid one fine. Also, when we go out to run errands and my brother and I don't think we'll end up buying something, we have to think about either sharing a bag or going without one entirely.

Its definitely a challenge, but its making us think, and we seem to be improving with use of bags when we don't need them. Why not try counting up the plastic/paper bags your family uses in a week? I'd love to hear about it!