Plastic bag reminder

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Plastic bags do not belong in your recycling bin. Plastic bags should not be dumped into the recycling containers at the transfer station. The transfer station needs to post a message to this effect on all of its containers.

When I make my trips to the transfer station, I never fail to see at least several plastic bags thrown in with the recyclables. If you use plastic bags to hold your recyclables, dump the contents of the bag into the container and keep the bag. At curbside, choose brown paper bags to hold items like junk mail and newspapers instead of plastic bags.

The place that does accept your plastic bags is your local grocery store. You will usually find receptacles for them in the front of the store.

To conquer that ever-growing pile of plastic bags most of us have in a closet, buy and use reusable bags whenever you go shopping. Grocery stores have been offering them to customers for quite awhile at a small cost. Other retailers are also starting to follow suit. I was pleased to see one of the big box discounters recently displaying some with its logo.

As a Christmas gift, my goddaughter gave me a set of three bags with colorful designs. They look like the totes that are so popular right now. This gives me a little more fashionable option than hauling my resuable grocery bags into the mall.

Another thing to keep in mind - when you go shopping, sometimes you don't need a bag at all. Several Concord bookstores do not presume that you want a bag for your purchase. They will ask you first or simply hand you your book with the receipt inside the cover. How often do we go to a store and buy only one or two items? Do we really need another bag? Just learn to say no to unnecessary packaging.