Saturday, May 31, 2008

My Basket

Since we've been here, we've collected about ten times more plastic grocery bags than we need to line our trash cans. Recently, however, our grocery store solved that problem for us as they started to charge 5 yen (about 5 cents) per plastic bag in order to be more environmentally friendly. So we decided to do our part and buy a "My Basket" from the store.

With a "My Basket" you go to the store and do your shopping in a regular cart or basket, storing your "My Basket" underneath. When you get to the cash register, you hand the cashier your basket and they then load all your groceries into the basket, rather than into bags. When everything is in the basket, the cashier tapes a paper over the top to indicate the groceries inside have been paid for and you're on your way.

The biggest problem with the basket so far is that even though everything fits inside, it is too heavy for me to carry. So I usually end up taking a backpack or tote bags in addition to distribute the weight. I also can't help wondering how many plastic bags went into making my pink plastic basket.

5 comments:

Mike and DellaBeth Carney said...

I'm surprised they haven't adopted recycled cloth bags yet. These would be more environmentally friendly than the baskets which probably were made out of those bags or oil or some other unfriendly substance.

Heather said...

They do have some kind of vinyl bag for sale but I haven't seen any strictly cloth ones sold for the specific purpose of carrying your groceries. It is a bit strange . . .

Sandra said...

I thought it was funny make a basket or make more plastic bags?

Terina said...

Brillant! But I have to say cloth bags would be easier!!!

Anonymous said...

I would have a difficult time carrying a basket of food for sure. You have had your share of different experiences. Here, in the states, they are wanting us to invest in cloth bags or non disposable bags. I do not know how long it will take everyone to catch on.