Paper or plastic - or cloth?
Alternative shopping bags are becoming more popular with local grocery shoppers and environmental enthusiasts. Instead of the traditional paper or plastic bags, Gainesville supermarkets are now offering reusable or recyclable ones.
At Publix, customers are quickly buying the reusable bags, said Josh Ferris, a Publix assistant manager.
"We can't keep them in the store," Ferris said.
Each bag holds up to two and a half times more than standard plastic bags, Ferris said.
A large amount of energy and fossil fuels go into the creation of all disposable goods, including plastic grocery bags, said Anna Prizzia-Taylor, the outreach coordinator at UF's Office of Sustainability.
"All the energy it takes to make, ship and store the bag, and then people use it once and throw it away," Prizzia-Taylor said.
Americans consume 100 billion plastic shopping bags every year, and the majority become litter on the streets or clutter in landfills, according to the Worldwatch Institute, a sustainability research organization.
The problem in landfills is not just the amount of space taken up by bags, said John D. Schert, executive director of the Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management at UF.
"The biggest challenge for the landfill operator is that the bags blow away," Schert said. "It just litters the landscape." In addition, he said, bags don't degrade.
Other grocery stores have already phased out plastic bags entirely. The Whole Foods Market chain announced Jan. 22 that it will stop offering plastic bags in its stores by Earth Day, on April 22.
Chantel Wilson, manager of Sunflower Health Foods on Southwest 34th Street, thinks the transition is the right move.
Wilson said the store does have customers who bring hemp or canvas bags, but most use plastic.
Prizzia-Taylor is hopeful reusable bags will soon be the norm.
"It seems a little funny that rather than carry a bag that is durable and lasts long, we just automatically take a plastic bag," she said. "We throw it away after one use and create a lot of waste."
