Here's something I think we all know, any grocery store shopping bag is bad for the environment... paper OR plastic. The solution is to bring your own shopping bags with you to the store. Not only will you help the environment by not using paper or plastic bags, but you can also save money because many stores offer a 5 or even 10 cent discount for every bag you don't use. That averages out to $52 dollars a year if you avoid using 10 standard grocery bags a week.

All major food stores offer clothe reusable shopping bags made from recycled materials. You may have to pay a few dollars for them, but you can use them over and over again. If you pay $2 for a clothe shopping bag, and normally average the use of 10 standard grocery bags a week that $2 clothe bag will pay for itself in only 2 weeks with the 10 cent discount. A great site for reusable bags is Delight.com, click to learn more.

AVOID PLASTIC BAGS

Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are used in our country every year! 30 billion of them end up littering our streets and sidewalks eventually making their way into our sewers, rivers, and oceans. Plastic bags never completely biodegrade, they only photodegrade which means the sunlight breaks them down into tiny pieces. The problem is these tiny pieces end up in the stomachs of birds and marine life and remain there forever. They can even make their way back to your dinner plate!

AVOID PAPER BAGS

You think plastic bags are bad? Paper are even worse. Every paper bag takes more energy to make and creates more waste than TWO plastic bags. So next time they ask paper or plastic, answer neither... and have your own bags with you.

THE FACTS

Many countries have banned or placed heavy taxes on the use of plastic bags including Ireland, Australia, and South Africa. US cities have also began to ban their use including San Francisco whose banned the use of plastic bags since March 2007.