Are you impressed when you see someone in the checkout line with reusable cloth bags?  I am.  It means the person is conscientious and thoughtful.  They know that our oceans are clogged up with plastic, and it’s destroying the planet.  My problem is forgetting to bring the numerous cloth bags in my trunk into the supermarket. The only time I have the foresight to bring them inside is when I shop at Aldi’s. And that’s because it’s the thing to do there.  My brain is primed to remember cloth bags  because I don’t want to have to pay for plastic ones at that store. But when I get home and look around my house, I wonder how much difference we’re really making.  Plastic is everywhere.   I’m afraid cloth bags won’t save the planet.

Those same people who remember to bring cloth bags to Kroger are probably serving  on some charitable committee that furnishes needy moms with disposable diapers.  Or their club organizes a free Christmas present giveaway, with piles of plastic toys for poor children.  Or else they’re volunteering at a food bank, where  bottles of milk, juice, condiments and other edibles are packed  in plastic.  They might volunteer at a soup kitchen which serves food on styrofoam dishes with plastic utensils.  And last but not least, trash bags.  I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t use plastic trash bags.

Back in the 60’s,  we didn’t use much plastic for any of the above.  The grocery store provided paper bags, which were then reused to carry out the trash.  And the trash cans weren’t made of plastic.  We provided our own metal trash cans, picked up by hand each week by the trash collector.  In our house, we wrapped our wet garbage in newspapers.  It was my brother’s chore to carry out the drippy garbage every night after dinner.  If you got a baby doll for Christmas,  it was a rubber dolly with no clothes.  A more upscale doll would have a porcelain head and cloth body. Other toys were made of tin. .  Many were wooden. . My first two children wore cloth diapers.  I did a lot of laundry, but that was the only  expense involved after the initial purchase.  So we didn’t have to feel sorry for women who couldn’t afford disposable diapers lined with plastic, because no one had even heard of them.

Will cloth grocery bags save the planet?  I don’t think so. But there’s hope on the horizon.  Scientists have recently discovered a way to recycle plastics into diesel fuel.. That’s good news, because I don’t think we’re ever going to stop using plastic bags.