Have you been to the grocery store and observed someone loading up cloth bags instead of using the plastic ones the store gives you? If so, you have seen someone who is conscious about the environment we live in.

Reusable shopping bags are really easy to use and have a great impact on the environment. And they do not take up much room between shopping trips.

I have over a dozen shopping bags now. I simply fold them up and put them in a pile then stuff them into one of the bags. I keep them in my trunk and when I head into the store, pull out some or all of the bags. I also found some reusable bags that are insulated to help keep my food cold. And I will say, the insulated ones have been wonderful at keeping my frozen food frozen!

After paying attention on my shopping trips, I found that using one reusable bag can equate to 2 to 4 plastic bags. If you use just 3 bags on each grocery trip, you are saving 6 to 12 bags from being tossed into your landfill.

Why is it so important to keep plastic bags out of the landfills? I have a list and am sure you can find even more reasons.

1. They do not decay.
2. Plastic bags often blow around getting stuck in trees.
3. If they do not make it undergroud and blow around, animals can get trapped in the handles and possibly suffocate.
4. The base material in plastic is the same petroleum base our gas is made out of. Want those prices down? Use less plastic anything and recycle.
5. It is estimated that each year we throw away between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic grocery bags. Out of all those used, an estimated 380 billion are consumed in the US alone.
6. It is estimated that over 100,000 turtles, birds, seals, and whales are killed every year by plastic bags.

More stores offer these for sale for under $10 per bag. The Highland Hiker has partnered with the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust to help preserve the beauty around us. For a limited time, when you come into any one of the Highland Hiker stores, you can pick up a reusable shopping bag for just $5. By purchasing one of these bags, you are not only helping keep those nasty plastic bags out of landfills, but also helping preserve the Highlands & Cashiers, NC area we all love so much.

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