Quick tip: wash those reusable bags

The August issue of Better Homes and Gardens published the statistic that 85% of people don't regularly launder their reusable grocery bags. They recommend cleaning bags in hot soapy water at least once a week. Upon reading that, I promptly threw mine in the wash and in the future will look out for bags that are easy to clean. Some of my plastic-y ones aren't easy to just throw in the washing machine.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by PedalFreak

L.A. City Passes Bag Ban

Yesterday, the LA City Council voted to ban single-use plastic bags in retail stores. The decision has been a long time in coming. I'm all for reusable bags and hope that the ban will have its intended effect, to reduce waste and pollution. Here's the LAist coverage, and here's my blog post on refusing plastic bags from August of last year.

One of my reusable bags.

For those of us who have been bringing bags with us as a habit won't have too much of a change in store (no pun intended). But there are many who never got on the reusable bag bandwagon, and they will need to incorporate reusable bags into their lifestyle if they want to avoid paying 10 cents for a paper bag every time they shop.

Some tips for remembering your reusable bags:

• Get the kind that zip up or stuff up inside themselves and keep several at the bottom of your purse.
• Stash bulkier canvas or vinyl bags in your trunk.
• Create a place by the front door to hang bags (Command hooks are great for this) so you can grab recently emptied ones on your way out the door to replenish your car stock.
• Always bring more bags in to a store than you think you will need, just in case you underestimate how much you will be purchasing.

Say no to every plastic bag

Local bans of plastic grocery bags have come into vogue. There's a good article in the Los Angeles Times on the plastic bag ban now being enacted in unincorporated parts of LA County. There are numerous reasons for avoiding the use of plastic bags, among them the environmental impact of manufacturing and distributing the bags, the problem of having such disposable products floating around our streets and waterways and the hazards these littered bags pose to animals. From an organizational perspective, plastic bags can quickly take over a pantry or closet. We see these convenient tools as being too good to throw away; they are usually strong and stand up to multiple uses, so we are loathe to trash them and we are uncertain about recycling them. In many places, they are not recyclable.

Tiny bag folded up.

Unfolded, it holds so much stuff, stylishly!

I am vehemently anti-plastic bags and I think the bans are a good thing. I always bring reusable bags when grocery shopping or even shopping at a mall. I never take a bag if the item I'm purchasing is small enough to stow in my purse or carry in my hand. I keep two collapsible bags in my purse at all times. If I must take a bag, I reuse it as many times as possible before recycling it.

To those who think they are incapable of remembering to bring bags with them, I say nonsense. Stash a few in your car, your glove box, your purse or backpack. Many businesses offer incentives for bringing your own bags - take advantage of this! Bulky canvas bags are super sturdy, but lightweight scrunch-style bags take up very little room. There's really no excuse. Get on the no-plastic-bag bandwagon!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.