Paper, Plastic, or Cloth

Remember the blog where I sent in my Bear Naked granola bags, for their sustainable packaging project? http://www.bearnaked.com/sustainable.asp Well, they sent me both the t-shirt and the reusable grocery bag. The t-shirt is a little big, but our youngest likes it. It goes well with his "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" owl shirt. Did I mention I created that slogan? Yes, believe it or not, I entered an elementary school poster contest back in the early 1970's. My dad and I stayed up all night working on my pollution poster. Its one of my fondest memories of growing up. We sat there at the dining room table for hours trying to come up with words that rhymed with "pollute". It was a lot of fun. We did it all in stencils and colorful magic markers. My dad was all about the magic marker art. After we came up with the slogan, I drew an owl sitting on a tree branch. It wasn't fancy, but some adults I knew later told me they saw my original poster on the local news. Well, time passed. All the other kids in class got their posters back. I never did. Did I win the contest? The folks who held the contest never said one way or the other. But, if you ask anyone in my family, I did. For years after that, my father would pay me to draw animals and cartoons for him to display at work. He worked as a meat cutter for the Colonial store grocery chain. Anyway, back in those days, all the grocery bags were paper. Paper bags were simple. They stood up straight in the car and they were multipurpose. If you tore off a small piece and put it on a razor cut, it would stop the bleeding. Cool huh? I used this technique quite often as a teenager learning to shave my legs. We used them for art projects. We even cut them and used them as book covers for our textbooks. Back then, the only thing I remember recycling was bottles. My father used to get so mad when I would return his empties for pocket change to buy cola Slurpee's and candy at the local 7 Eleven. Later, we started using plastic grocery bags. When you put then in the car, everything fell out. They had handles which was cool, but they didn't really hold much, and cheaply made, they constantly ripped open. With the onset of plastic bags, I had to start buying book covers and art supplies from the store which meant going to my dad for money (not a pleasant experience..Dad was frugal). But plastic was supposed to be better than paper. Less trees had to die. I love trees so I gave plastic a chance. To this day, I am ashamed to say we still use some plastic...at least for the disposal of kitty litter. In the past few years, plastic has been going away. In its place, we now have cloth bags. I must have fifteen or so now, each from a different store, sitting in the trunk of my car. I try to remember to bring them in the store with me. I've been told plastic is bad for the environment, but they are great for advertising. I have bags from Target, Wegman's, Shopper's bags, Giant, Bloom, Books a Million, Sketchers, Old Navy, Shell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Its gotten totally out of control. There I am standing in line, feeling guilt pangs because I've left my cloth bag for that particular store in the trunk. I mean, you can't use a Wegman's bag at Target. Its politically incorrect, right? Well, the customer in line behind me is giving me a dirty look. There I stand empty handed. I know what she is thinking. "OMG, you are not considering using plastic, are you? Think about the environment." Its a very uncomfortable feeling, stressful even. It takes longer for cashiers to bag stuff in plastic bags. They don't hold as much, so they have to use more than they would were the customer using cloth bags they purchased or brought from home. And because most are still cheaply made, you often have to double bag plastic. But there is really no excuse. Cloth bags don't cost much and usually they are right there at check out. And as incentive, some stores give you a 5 cent credit for each bag you use. Some even give them out for free with purchase (again, advertising). There is no winning. If you left your bag in the car, you have to buy a new one. At least one, to show you are making an effort...for the environment, for the earth, for your children's future... Hey, I am all about progress. Heaven knows, I give a hoot. All I want to know is...now that I have all these cloth bags, how do I dispose of the kitty litter?