So you’ve got your canvas grocery bag, and you’re off to the local farmer’s market to pick up some produce. You’re even biking there. You’re feeling good about reducing your carbon footprint when you grab a handful of leafy greens and suddenly realize you have nothing to put them in but a plastic produce bag. Luckily, instead of using those thin plastic bulk bags, it is easy to buy or even make your own reusable produce bags from organic materials.

There are several options on the market for small reusable bags. ECOBAGS creates several sizes of bags to suit any amount of produce. They are washable, and carry both organic cloth or organic net sacks, depending on the size and weight of the fruits or vegetables. ECOBAGS use cotton that is bleach-free, so the fabric is natural and healthy.

Reusable produce bags are also easy to make. If you’re not up for buying the fabric and sewing, you can buy handmade bags from ‘remarket‘ on Etsy. These particular sacks are made of nylon tulle, and are see-through. The fabric is light so as not to add an extra weight to the produce scale and see through for easy identification in the grocery store’s check-out line.

If you find yourself without reusable bags, or you stopped at the grocery store on a whim, you can still make sound environmental choices. Many retailers, including Whole Foods offer both brown paper bags and plastic bags. If you end up using these, make sure to keep them with your other grocery bags so you can reuse them the next time you’re at the store. Most plastic bags simply get thrown away after one use, which pile up quickly in the landfill and can have devastating effects on marine life. Reusing a plastic or paper bag will at least extend its life if you forget your cloth produce bags.

Many consumers have become accustomed to using reusable tote bags for their bulkier groceries, but it’s the smaller stuff that counts too. Soon we hope the question of paper or plastic can be entirely eliminated with the use of stronger, more durable cloth bags.

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