this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net to c/memes@slrpnk.net
 

Alt text: Meme caption: "When you forget to bring your reusable bags to the grocery store", below is an image of Dexter from Dexter's laboratory weeping as he strokes a picture of the earth, saying "I have failed you!"

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[–] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I always keep two the in rucksack I bring for shopping. I will not fail again!

[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My punishment for myself is to buy more reusable bags at checkout.

[–] Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That is way worse than just getting single use if you are just collecting them and not actually using them. Reusable are a net positive only if you actually reuse them hundreds of times.

[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 4 points 3 months ago

Yeah, I give them to friends and family.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I'm sure the millionaires and the billionaires are telling themselves the same thing while sitting in their pritave jet en route to the 'grocery' store.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Seeing a company dump waste in a park doesn’t mean I have to squat down and take a shit there, too.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 months ago

No. I still bring my reusable bag to the store. I never had a car, use a bike or public transit. I 've always been very careful. But it's just very disappointing to see some moderately rich asshole ruin all of my lifetime efforts in a day. Also, the pandemic showed me that most people don't give a fuck and just wanted to go back to "normal" polluting.

In fact, the whole plastic industry convinced people over the years into cleaning and recycling it instead of reducing its use. Also, I'm sure some of you know that lots of reusable bags are just thicker plastic, that they need to be reused a whole lots of times before being "ecological", that some people like to collect them, and that it can ends up being worse than using disposable ones.

We just can't stop the consumption, but somehow, bringing a reusable bag will remove the guilt.

I still feel very guilty and like it's a failure every time I have to use a car, but that's just me because everyone is encouraging me to get one and use them. Just get an electric one. They are heavier and require like tones of batteries to move 1.5 person around, and their reusable bags, but they are "ecological"!

Google's emissions have risen by 50% in a few years, mostly because of AI. So I try to avoid using "AI". But apparently, most people don't have those concerns.

When I see all the ways the people around me pollute, consume and dispose, the reusable bag is low on the list of things I feel guilty about.

[–] FundMECFS@anarchist.nexus 4 points 3 months ago

I agree. But when I disagree is using that as an excuse to discount individual action.

Just because billionaires are racist doesn’t mean it’s fine for me to be racist. Same logic here.

[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Do not hurt Earth-chan 🥲

[–] LordCrom@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Something something something.....omelette du fromage.

[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)
[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 5 points 3 months ago

Now I buy plastic garbage bags and put plastic wrapped food in my re-useable bags instead of the reusable plastic grocery bags I used for garbage.

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 5 points 3 months ago

Oh no! Well, time to go home and return to the store I guess...

[–] bigbabybilly@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Happened to me today. I just bring everything to my car in the cart, pit ‘em in the trunk and bag ‘em when I get home, to carry inside. It’s not that bad.

[–] rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago

I always put them back in my car after a trip so I won't forget them

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

This is why I keep boxes from in the back of my truck and just load them up, I hope to find industrial milk crates to replace the cardboard.

Also before folks come at me I drive an 01 Toyota Tacoma which has gas mileage comparable to a particularly inefficient motorcycle. Its the best I can afford.

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 2 points 3 months ago

Fear not for there is still enough room in my backpack for some essentials. I may have to carry my water bottle in hand, but this is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the greater good.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Now I keep plastic bags in my shoes and socks so I can whip them out whenever needed. Emergency toilet in a pinch

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago
[–] zedbite@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Whats the book say? physics and ... ?

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] zedbite@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago
[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works -3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Last I remember, a cloth bag needs to be used for a minimum of 1000 grocery trips for it to even begin to offset the environmental cost of making it.

Now, I've had mine for 5 years. So I'm making good progress.

But I do miss the plastic ones just because I always used them as garbage bags. The tax on plastic grocery bags are nuts. They cost a buck each. Unless you buy 50 of them for garbage use... then they're all of a sudden dirt cheap and so thin it feels like breathing on them will poke a hole.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So one cloth bag is equal to 1,000 plastic bags? That doesn't seem right. Certainly it can't be taken into effect that garbage created by the 1,000 plastic bags.

[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Taking garbage from 1000 plastic bags into account is exactly what it does.

You're underestimating just how much is needed for a cloth bag.

From growing the cotton, to processing it, to making the bag. That's a long way. There are a lot of steps involved. A lot of energy required.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yes I understand the cotton bag will take a lot more than a plastic bag to create. I'm just doubting the Thousand to one number. But again what I'm really really doubting is that they've taken into account the effect of a thousand bags have after they're made. Which is rather the point of switching to the cotton bags in the first place. Or other types of bags by the way they don't all have to be cotton. I've never owned a cotton one. Not sure why that has to be our only example here.

[–] Rainbowblite@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 months ago

Here is some info from the UN. They take into account a lot of factors beyond carbon output, including acidification of oceans and land use changes. So the 1000 uses is how many uses to be better in all categories. For carbon output, it is around 150 uses.

I guess it depends which categories are more important to you. Plastic is obviously going to be superior in agricultural run-off issues. Cloth is obviously superior in micro plastic emissions. They don't evaluate microplastics though, so it might be skewed in favour of plastic.

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/31932/SUPB.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

There's really not that much plastic in a plastic bag.

There's more plastic in a happy meal toy than most bags.

[–] Five@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Solution? Sewing DIY bags from old clothing.

More reusable and personal than a factory bag, and you already know how to mend it to keep it going. Uses less raw resources than a plastic bag, as it was going to the trash anyways. It's a great beginner sewing project.

[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 months ago

Absolutely! If only people would bother to do it. If they were. We probably wouldn't be here to begin with.