Bag Man

I enjoy making reusable grocery bags. Our current technology is stuck in a lose-lose argument on the answer to the age old question, 'paper or plastic?' Creating new plastic bags is amazingly poisonous to the environment, toxifying hundreds of gallons of water every day, per bag making factory, to make a product that is so difficult to recycle that most centers won't accept them. (Some stores have started a re-use campaign, or provide receptacles to drop off you used bags, which is better than just throwing them in the lake). Paper bags lose much of their strength when they increase the recycled fiber content, so many bags are made with first run wood fibers, meaning new trees were used to make the bags.
Many stores are now selling durable, reusable bags in a variety of designs, which is a great step toward limiting our consumption of paper and plastic, and I applaud anyone who uses them instead of disposable bags.
My clever wife discovered a design for home made grocery bags online and we've been working with this design for several months. Shown here in the picture are several variations on the original design.
I'm getting better at remembering to bring reusable bags with me when we go to the store, and if I forget them, I'm likely to try and carry everything to the car in my arms rather than use a disposable bag, much to the chagrin of my wife.