Button Up!

Most of us are too busy thinking about what we need for dinner to consider the the environmental impact of our shopping bags, but the grocery bags we use really can and do make a difference. According to www.1Bagatatime.com, Americans annually dispose of almost 400 billion plastic bags. With every 14 bags containing enough petroleum to drive a car for a mile, that's a lot of miles! As gas prices continue to rise, impacting the cost of food, one way that individuals can contribute to resource conservation is by purchasing reusable bags.

Tidal Creek offers sturdy, reusable bags for $0.99 each. Additionally, Tidal Creek runs the Button Up! Program. For every reusable bag a customer brings in $0.05 is donated to charity. At the front of the store there is a jar of buttons and two jars representing charities. Shoppers who use reusable bags can move a button to the charity of their choice. From July 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008 Tidal Creek shoppers used 5,609 reusable bags saving enough gas to drive a car 400 miles and sending approximately $280 to charity. This is a green consumer choice I can really get behind.

(My boyfriend would surely agree that I am promoting this program. Like so many of us I end up leaving my bag by the front door on my way out prompting me to purchase another. His front door is starting to be wallpapered with reusable bags. Oops!)