
The second I remember to quit grumbling when I get a paper bag with no handles instead of the evil that is the plastic bag, the whole eco-mantra of choosing paper could be dumped on its head. One man, Stephen Joseph, is out to save the plastic bag. He's
head of the campaign called Save the Plastic Bag, and he means business.

We talk often about
ditching plastic bags in favor of
resuable shopping bags and
recycling whatever you can. But, no matter how hard you work to be environmentally conscious, at the end of the day (or week), you still have to take out the trash. Someone still has to take out the trash.

Good news for those of us who hate
plastic bags: As of October 2008, Ikea will no longer offer plastic or paper bags. Instead, the store will only offer reusable plastic bags to its customers. Last March, Ikea set a goal of reducing its US stores’ plastic bag consumption by 50 percent, reducing plastic bag use from 70 million to 35 million plastic bags in the first year.

I have always had a thing for
fabulous handbags. Last year, when it became uncool to use
environmentally unfriendly plastic and paper grocery bags, I suddenly started collecting reusable, canvas grocery bags. Last season I was obsessed with the
I'm Not A Plastic Bag statement tote and this year I'm crazy about
The Inconvenient Bag ($19.99) carryall.

A report just released shows that the US set a record for
recycling plastic bags in 2006. Up a whopping 24 percent, the record high validates a growing national recycling trend sweeping the states. Of the 812 million pounds of plastic recovered, tons will become usable goods like decking.

It was announced today that fashion retailer Debenhams will
begin to charge for their plastic bags. The scheme is to be introduced in the aim of reducing the amount of plastic bags that are used as 12 billion to 13 bn carrier bags are handed out by retailers every year. They will test charging 5p for the bags and will often a cotton tote as an alternative.
Craft shares an ambitious plastic bag-recycling project. While I've shown you a nifty
fused plastic bag project in the past, this one definitely gets high marks for its innovative quilting and eye for detail. Find out how it was done
here.

Plastic bags seem to be the new public enemy number one. They have already been
banned in San Francisco, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and several other cities. Not to mention that the entire country of
China is going to start charging consumers for them.

Did you know that each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion
plastic bags are consumed worldwide?
To do your part to reduce this huge amount of waste, make your own fabric shopping bags with these easy instructions from
Kristina J. Millar when you .

Green designer
Danny Seo always has great, simple ideas for greening your home. In
a recent post he writes that when he was thrifting at a local Goodwill, he saw a bunch of toothbrush holders, and immediately thought of using these as plastic bag dryers. All you have to do is stick wooden dowels or chopsticks in the holes where you'd normally stick your toothbrush, and then drape the bag over the stick.