The “waste” is negligible; doing some napkin math, a 20 minute car ride accounts for 300 times higher carbon footprint than a plastic produce bag (can elaborate if you want). A reused mesh bag is going to be less hygienic and less convenient, and factoring in the higher footprint of production and distribution (produce bags come in packs of thousands) you would need to get a lot of reuse out of it to even be worth it. Considering impact of disposal, as long as you live somewhere that has sane waste disposal and doesn’t empty their trash into the ocean it’s not going to be significant either.
The “waste” is negligible; doing some napkin math, a 20 minute car ride accounts for 300 times higher carbon footprint than a plastic produce bag (can elaborate if you want). A reused mesh bag is going to be less hygienic and less convenient, and factoring in the higher footprint of production and distribution (produce bags come in packs of thousands) you would need to get a lot of reuse out of it to even be worth it. Considering impact of disposal, as long as you live somewhere that has sane waste disposal and doesn’t empty their trash into the ocean it’s not going to be significant either.
It’s less about the carbon and more about the fact that it doesn’t degrade. It’s plastic pollution.
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