Do your reusable grocery bags give you a license to buy junk food?

When you bring your own reusable grocery bags to the grocery store it actually impacts purchasing patterns. That pat on the back that we give ourselves for reducing our impact has a subconscious effect on what we bring home in those bags, according to Uma Karmarkar, an assistant professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, and her research partner Bryan Bollinger, of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Karmarkar and Bollinger looked at the cash register receipts of those shoppers that brought their own bags. They could easily tell who brought their own reusable grocery bags by the bag discounts on the receipts. They found that these shoppers were more likely to buy organic foods but at the same time, they were also more likely to buy high fat and calorically dense junk food.

And it wasn’t just based on the people. For example, when an individual brought their own bag one week and didn’t the next week, they were more likely to make the organic and junk food purchases on the weeks that they brought their own bags.

“You give yourself a cookie. In this case literally. In consumer psychology the word ‘licensing’ is the key. If I behave well in one situation, I give myself license to misbehave in another, unrelated situation,” said Karmarkar to the Harvard Business Review. “Similar research has also been done on health decisions. I get a Diet Coke; I treat myself to a hamburger. In this case bringing a bag makes you think you’re environmentally friendly, so you get some ice cream. You feel you’ve earned it.”

Researchers think that it’s a subconscious behavior, meaning that they don’t actively think they get a cookie for bringing a bag. When bringing your own bag becomes more common, then the pat on the back behavior will also be less common. For example, in some places, recycling bottles and cans is a requirement, so people are less likely to reward themselves for the behavior.

The effect also disappears when people have kids because the motivations are different. Parents bring their own bags to be role models and they buy healthy foods to feed their families. Karmarkar says that location may also matter, in that store behavior in California may be different than store behavior in South Carolina.

But none of this is to say that bringing your own bags doesn’t make a big difference, because it does. Consider that a plastic bag could take anywhere from 15 to 1,000 years to decompose. And when plastic bags do decompose they dissolve into toxic polymer particles and the majority of that toxic waste ends up in our oceans, maiming and killing marine species. Plus the cost of recycling plastic bags outweighs their value, so many recycling facilities won’t take them.

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Image of a reusable bag on a bike from Shuttershock

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Did you know that each year Americans throw away around 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags? Less than 0.6 percent of those are recycled. And that Americans buy 28 billion disposable plastic bottles of water a year?

When we’re on the go it’s easy to forget about the real impact of our choices, especially when it comes to plastic. The ease of buying an occasional bottle of water or packing groceries in a plastic bag when you forget your reusable one might not feel like an environmentally detrimental choice, but small choices add up quickly. Fortunately, changes in the industry are slowly happening, making it easier for you to commit to kicking the single-use plastic habit.

Plastic bag bans and fees are a common topic of debate in environmental communities, and Wal-Mart is the latest business to join in the discussion. Starting January 1st, Wal-Mart will institute a pilot program at three stores in California, where no single-use plastic bags will be provided to consumers. Shoppers will instead have a choice between purchasing three different reusable bags, reasonably priced at $1, 50 cents and 15 cents. The pilot program will test how consumers will deal with stores that do not offer free bags. Not providing plastic bags could have a significant impact at large stores like Wal-Mart; the retail giant alone was responsible for handing out 27 billion plastic bags in 2007.

The anti-plastic bag movement is also spreading on regional levels. This week Delaware passed a law that will require larger stores to all offer reusable bags to their consumers. Even in Phuket, Thailand, a group of business owners recently passed an agreement to institute a small fee on plastic bags. Although it is unknown what impact policies like this will have in the long term, it’s certainly a step in the right direction, encouraging consumers to choose reusable bags whenever possible.

The other culprit in single-use plastic waste is bottled water. In a progressive move, Canada-based Naya Spring Water announced this week that it is the first bottled water company to use 100% recycled plastic in its bottles. The company also reportedly recycles 96% of waste from its plant, including paper, cardboard and plastic.

But is buying a recycled plastic bottle water that’s still a single-use item that sustainable? It’s great to recycle materials that otherwise would have gone straight to the landfill, but supporting the purchase of single-use products inevitably leads us to consume more and waste more. In a pinch, opt for the recycled plastic bottle of water, but when possible, keep your reusable drinking vessel in tow.

Photo credits: vieux bandit, zone41

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You know the feeling. You’re standing at the cash register in the grocery store and you reach for your reusable grocery bag, only to realize it’s lurking at the bottom of your car right next to your old Vanity Fair magazines and that tube of organic deodorant that doesn’t work.

Further contributing to your RBGS (Reusable Bag Guilt Syndrome), every other customer is calmly loading his or her soy milk into a reusable bag.

But not to worry! We’ve got a line of reusable bags that are not only easy to clean, they are so cute you will never forget them in the car. June Fifteen offers eco-chic reusable bags that “make going green practical and stylish.”

Founder Sandrine Cassidy Schmitt wanted to bring an alternative to the world of paper or plastic. As Sandrine tells it, “I wanted to create a line of reusable bags that would give stores and shoppers incentives to reduce and ultimately replace paper and plastic shopping bags. We aspire to not only make the bags you remember to bring to the check-out counter, but ones that you can use as purses, book bags, beach bags and fashion accessories.”

And remember them you will. June Fifteen bags are adorable. Seriously, you will purposefully forget things at the store just so you can return to show off your bag. They offer tote bags, grocery bags, wine bags and children’s backpacks and are made from renewable jute, rattan cane and cotton. Bags are well-designed with bottle separators, inside-outside pockets, shoulder-length handles, drawstring backpacks and even matching bottle coaster with wine bags. The bags are lined with LDPE (low density polyethylene), a recyclable plastic allowing the bags to be waterproofed, which is great for shopping. And this makes them easier to clean, therefore cutting down on pesky, unwanted microbial guests.

June Fifteen will even make you a custom bag. The bags run around $15 and can be purchased online or at certain California store locations.

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