Cloth bag

WHY ARE CLOTH BAGS BETTER THAN PLASTIC?
Cloth bags are better than plastic bags for many reasons, but two of the biggest reasons are:
Cloth bags are reusable, decreasing the need to use more materials for single-use production, and Cloth bags reduce plastic use and therefore plastic pollution.

REUSE VS. SINGLE-USE
So what are we talking about when we say ‘cloth bags’?

Cloth bags refers to any reusable bag that is not made from HDPE plastic. This ranges from natural fiber totes to recycled reusables, to backpacks and even up-cycled DIY bags.

While yes, it technically takes much less energy and resources to produce an HDPE single-use plastic bag than a reusable bag, those same resources are surmounted by the sheer magnitude of plastic bags necessary to keep up with their fleeting usefulness.

For example, we currently use 500 billion bags every year worldwide. And each one of those bags requires a significant amount of natural gas and crude oil to make. In the US alone, it takes twelve million tons of petroleum to meet the production of plastic bags for the country each year.

It also requires a significant amount of money and resources to clean up and dispose of these plastic bags. In 2004, the City of San Francisco estimated a price tag of $8.49 million per year in clean up and landfill costs for plastic bags each year.

REDUCING PLASTIC POLLUTION
Cloth bags, because of their reusable nature, help reduce the amount of single-use plastic being used and inadvertently discarded into the environment.

It’s estimated that nearly 8 million pieces of plastic enter oceans every day.

One of the most impactful steps we can take as individuals are to reduce our use of single plastics and substituting disposable bags with reusable cloth bags is a great start.

Cloth bags are also multipurpose, which means that you could reduce your plastic use in many areas of your life. Many people associate cloth bags with grocery shopping, which is great. But, you can also use your tote as a bag for work, school, or a trip to the beach. There are many aspects of our lives where we can consciously cut down or eliminate our plastic use. One of the easiest and most impactful ways is to invest in a cloth bag. They’re economical, more sustainable, and might just give you the peace of mind that you’re preventing plastic pollution with every use.