The Curse of the Tote Bag 

March 24

You’re on your way home and you walk past a grocery store – which reminds you that there’s a few things you need to pick up. This unplanned pitstop means that you don’t have your trusty tote bag with you, so you fork out a bit more and get one of the reusable bags instead of the cheapter ‘single-use’ plastic bags, because that’s the eco-friendly option, right? RIGHT?!  

Today, we are encouraged to swap out single-use items for reusable alternatives like tote bags, stainless steel straws, bamboo cutlery and ceramic coffee cups. On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer—reusable items reduce waste and help save the planet. But as with many things, the reality is more complex. While reusable items can be a great step toward sustainability, they aren’t always as eco-friendly as they appear.

Environmental Cost of Production 

Creating a reusable item often requires more resources and energy than making a disposable one. For example, a cotton tote bag might seem like an obvious improvement over a single-use plastic bag, but the environmental cost of producing cotton is surprisingly high, with estimates suggesting that it takes over 20,000 litres of water to produce just one kilogramme of cotton, in addition to the use of pesticides and fertilisers in conventional cotton farming. 

Figure: https://environnement.brussels/media/16577/download?inline

Underutilisation

The idea that owning reusable items automatically makes us more environmentally friendly is a common misconception. We might buy a stainless steel water bottle with the best intentions, but if it sits on a shelf most of the time, it’s not doing much to help the environment. The same goes for tote bags, reusable coffee cups, and other items. For example, a study by the UK Environment Agency found that a cotton tote bag would need to be used at least 131 times to have a lower global warming potential than a plastic bag used just once. The truth is, these items only reduce our environmental impact if we use them frequently enough to make up for the resources spent on making them. 

Figure: https://www.la-vague.ca/le-blogue/le-reutilisable-pour-le-take-out

Green Consumerism

Many of us have fallen into the trap of “green consumerism,” where we buy more reusable products than we need. Think of that tote filled with totes (that has replaced your plastic bag filled with plastic bags) or all those reusable water bottles that you have collected over time at events about environmental consciousness. Overconsumption of any kind, even of reusable items, can still be harmful to the environment.

Striking a Balance

So, does this mean we should abandon reusable items altogether? Not at all. Reusable items can be a valuable part of a sustainable lifestyle, but it’s important to approach them with a balanced perspective.

1. Use what you have
   Most items are inherently ‘reusable’ and you probably already own something that could do the job – don’t fall for marketing that is just trying to trick you into buying more stuff!
2. Use again and again (and again)
   That’s essentially the only way to make these eco-swaps eco-friendly. It might be worth taking the time to find a good quality, reusable item that suits you best and that you are most likely to use time and again.
3. Refuse (even if it’s cute)
   Turn down that freebie if you don’t need it – the whole point of reusable stuff is that you need just a couple and you’re sorted. This also means that choosing single-use options might actually be better sometimes, if you are unlikely to reuse the reusable alternative.

Conclusion

If we lived in an ideal world, there would be a systemic solution, where we no one needs to ‘own’ a tote bag or coffee cup – we just ‘borrow’ one when we need it and return it back into circulation at any other grocery store or cafe. Even if we might use that specific bag or cup only once, it is not a single-use item and the current use-and-throw model is replaced by a reuse model that is just as convenient. I mean, a girl can dream!

In the meantime, we bring you TiffinTime, a closed-loop system where reuse and reduce is the default 🙂 We encourage TiffinTimers to keep using the tiffins between deliveries and if you haven’t ordered in a while, we also offer a pick-up to get those tiffins back into circulation. Join us to experience all the taste, without the waste!