Planned Obsolescence Extends Even To "Green" Products

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This one of a pair of canvas bags that I have owned since the 90s. I have other canvas bags that I've had since the aughts, but these are the oldest. I have never had to repair them. I have walked with them, rode the bus with them, hooked them onto bicycle and scooter handlebars, and washed them in the washing machine. And still they are there to hold my grocery and other shopping.

Do you see bags like this sold or given as gifts anymore? Maybe if you searched online, but these are what used to be sold at the checkout for around $10, or given as thank you gifts for donating to a charity (I still have one from the NRDC that has black stains from banging against aforementioned bicycle tires, but is still going strong).

In the teens, there was a shift to bags like this:

I don't see bags like this bring offered very much anymore, either. These bags were much weaker than canvas. They would tear holes in them or rip a handle rather easily, but at least they could still survive the washing machine. They were sold with the idea that the lower price point (a dollar, usually) would encourage people to buy them who wouldn't invest in a $10 bag.

Nowadays, what stores offer are these:

These are somewhat like the previous ones except they have a plastic film on the outside. They are just as prone to the handles giving out, but the bag part seems a bit more sturdy ... until you try and wash it.

That plastic film will start to peel away like on onion skin. I actually don't have an image of that because I had to throw away the last one that did it, as the damage finally got to be too much. Once the film starts to go, the rest of the bag starts to go. And they will still tear at the seams.


I just finally cut off the destroyed handles on this one

So, why is this a big deal? The point of reusable bags is to be eco friendly, to use fewer resources and create less waste. A permanent bag will have a larger footprint than a disposable bag of course, but if you use it for years, like my old canvas bags, you then get more use out of the resources used to make your one bag than the many disposable plastic ones you would have used instead. And you didn't fill the ocean with all that plastic in the meantime.

But the cheaper bags break so much easier, the odds are pretty good it will wear out before you cross the threshold of using it enough that the footprint is smaller, at least, if you use them like me (they might live longer if you only use them to walk a few meters to and from your car rather than hauling them home on foot for a few miles). But even if you give it light use, if you try and wash these latest iterations (and you should, grocery bags get very germy if you don't), it starts to wear it out!

It just really annoys me when this "cheaper and shoddier" trend in manufacturing extends to supposedly "greener" options. It's the exact opposite of green if you are using more resources to replace your semi-permanent plastic bag before you cross the use threshold that makes it less wasteful.

Reusable items need to actually be used for a long time in order to be truly green. If people are just hopping on whatever is trendy and buying the newest water bottle because it's cool when they already have a shelf full of water bottles at home, they aren't being greener. They're being consumers, even if said bottle has a bamboo cap or whatever.

But the bag situation is a bit different because this is all that you see available anymore (again, barring searching something more sturdy out online. But someone who has only known these types of bags doesn't know to do that). I bought (or got as gifts from charities) my canvas bags in my early 20s as I was establishing my own adult household, and I've used them since. Someone doing that now would be replacing their bags every few years and not even realize that was different than it used to be.

A lot of the newer bags I own were giveaways, though I did buy a few. So yeah, I will use them. But having lived the eco life long enough to know better, I wouldn't buy one again.

Just an annoyance that the "if it breaks sooner people will buy more, yay profit" is so damn prevalent, even when you are doing your best to do the right thing.

hive-196233 green palnet proofofbrain archon eco planned obsolescence
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I've had all my shopping bags a long while now (can't remember since when, but before 2009). They all still look good. I wouldn't have even thought about them if I hadn't read your post, I just assume they'll last a very long time. I'll be surprised when it gets to the time when I have to replace them. They're made from some sort of rough sacking material, hemp or jute or something.

Since we had the 5p tax on single use plastic bags (2015), shops now sell these sturdier plastic bags called "bags for life" usually about 20p, sometimes made from recycled plastic, sometimes recyclable. But definitely not "for life" maybe for only two or three shops before something gives way. They are handy for an impromptu shop, I use them afterwards to take books to the charity shop, so they get the books and a bag. But it is a strange idea.

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The hemp or jute ones hopefully are just as long lasting as canvas! :)

I think those "bags for life" (I've heard of them, but we don't have them so I'm not sure) sound like the bags we used to have when I worked at the health food store (that has since been bought out by Whole Foods). We had a few customers that reused theirs for years every time they came in, they were really sturdy. Which is why it always made me frustrated when customers didn't believe me on that score and would demand that I pack less in their bag (to be clear, if they told me it was because they couldn't lift heavy things I had no problems at all, just talking about the people who didn't believe it could hold what it could hold). I would even say how sturdy they were and they were like NO IT WILL RIP! One time this person was being such a butt so I kept going and was like ...you're walking ten meters to your car. I walk home for miles with one that is even heavier. I think you'll be okay. They still refused and demanded more bags with barely anything in them.

It always got me when people were absolutely 0% concerned about plastic waste at THE HEALTH FOOD STORE. Like. It's the bastion of hippies and tree huggers and crunchy granolas. Are you lost? xD

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I’ve got a couple of cotton ones that are at least a decade old. On the downside, growing cotton takes lots of water. But they do last a long time.

I read a story somewhere about the guy who invented what we now call “single use” plastic bags. He never intended them to be used that way and was appalled that people would use them once and toss them.

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(Edited)

What was the original intent, do you remember?

And yeah, the water use and all that is what I was talking about re: manufacturing footprint, and how you have to use things so many times in order to make up for the increased footprint of the more durable item.

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No idea if there was intent. They were from a mainstream supermarket that’s long since switched over to the plastic-type bags shown in your post.

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So much of the “green” movement is an absolute farce and a marketing con/ploy when it comes down to it. The companies don’t give one single shit about the environment or people, all they care about is selling products and trying to catch the next trendy wave before it becomes less profitable.

I have some of the canvas bags and they are far better than the cheap plastic crap. I noticed a trend in the reusable ones: the trend starts in Europe and moves to America. Europe had those shit plastic versions of the reusable bags back when I was there in 2014 but I didn’t see them in America for about 4-5 years and now that’s usually all you see. It’s the same plastic trash that are in the plastic bags except it’s “green” according to the ridiculous label lol.

I love taking care of the environment and trying to do my part to clean things up, recycle what I can but the virtue signaling and green washing scams are beyond annoying these days.

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There is so much greenwashing. Being environmental isn't sexy and trendy, but companies will try and sell you that as "green". Look, new glass and bamboo instead of tupperware, throw out ALL THE PLASTIC ONES YOU ALREADY HAVE because people seem to equate "zero waste" with "no plastic" and in the process of purging all plastic from their home throw a ton of it away while it's still usable and use up so many more resources to buy new shit that they DIDN'T NEED. But it looks sexy on your Insta! 🙄
Like sure if you genuinely need new lunch containers because your old ones are toast, yeah buy the new ones that are plastic free. But don't fool yourself that because you put the old plastic ones into the thrift store bin that the store isn't throwing them out for you (they are, they get too many donations to begin with and no one wants to buy your old plastic with tomato stains on it), or that because you put them in the recycle bin that they actually will be recycled (only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled, it's mostly a scam).
Can ya tell that the "zero waste" trend that is not at all "zero waste" is kind of a personal grinds my gears thing with me? LOL
I'm pretty low waste - the majority of my trash is litter scooping. I produce roughly a grocery store bag worth of trash a week, and a similar amount of recycling. I'm no one-mason-jar-all-year kinda person. But I've got lots of decades-old stuff that I still use rather than buying trendy new stuff I don't need. I don't drive all over town wasting gas to hit all the stores where I could buy in bulk to save on packaging (I don't drive, period, I've never owned a car). It's just ...greenwashing versus reality to me. I think a lot of people, consciously or not, fixate on the one thing (no trash) or the "image" it gives to have no plastic, rather than what's really better for the environment.
My cupboards are full of plenty of plastic tupperware that I've had for years because it works, and old yogurt tubs that I reuse because I eat a lot of yogurt. It's not going to get me followers on Instagram as the next eco guru because it isn't ~aesthetic~, but I am pretty sure it's better for the environment. ;)

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Those plastic coated "reusable" bags are the horror! I haven't bought any myself, but sometimes I buy a 10-kilo sack of rice, and why not use the bag when it's empty? It should be able to hold 10 kilos of stuff, after all! Then it breaks at the most inconvenient moment, of course.

I think I've bought 10 plastic bags at the grocery stores in my whole life. And maybe 3 dozen paper bags, but that's because they are exactly the right size to stack half-full with books and then some clothes on top, which makes moving easier when you do it by bus or walking. Most shopping I do end up in my backpack, or the sturdy cotton shopping bag I always keep in the outer pocket, just in case. Books, food, clothes, beer... Hygiene... well, the cotton bag can be washed, thanks for the reminder! I wipe off the insides of the backpack with a damp cloth and some lemon juice or diluted white vinegar every now and then. Maybe it works, maybe not. Doesn't seem to hurt anything at least, even though the backpack is made from nylon 🤷‍♀️

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I totally used all my cloth bags for moving, too. It works and is so much easier than boxes!
I have even seen trendy upcycled shopping bags with handles made precisely out of old rice sacks. They cost way more than the other ones. Good to know they aren't any more sturdy, lol. I usually buy rice in smaller bags or from the bulk bins because I don't eat it that fast, but I have found a local flour mill that sells flour in cloth bags, and then I have nice cloth bags I can use to buy foods from the bulk bins or put produce in. It confuses the snot out of cashiers when I do that or bring in jars to use. I used to be a cashier at a health food store and only a few people did it there too but it seems nowadays I'm even more rare in my reuse habits!
!BEER

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