Debagging - A Lenten Carbon Fast Challenge!

Today's Lenten Carbon Fast challenge:

"Reduce the number of plastic bags you use by getting a fabric or reusable bag for shopping. Although plastic bags use 70% less plastic than they did 20 years ago, most are still made from polyethylene, a non-degradable plastic. If you live near a brewery, you can obtain 15-20 gallon durable, synthetic grain bags which breweries usually throw away. These can either be used as garbage bags or rinsed out and re-used to take trash to the dump.

This seems like a two-fer, and both parts are do-able.
As I've blogged before, The Lovely Wife and I use fabric bags for shopping a lot. We try always to keep some on a peg in the pantry for when we walk to the store, and a few in the car in case we shop while out-and-about. It doesn't hurt that most stores give you a nickel off per bag!
I also like to use cardboard cartons for serious shopping; they hold a lot, are inexpensive and, when they wear out, recycle easily. I tried making a video about it, and something went wrong, which makes it funnier although less useful:


Now the 2nd part of the challenge refers to brewery bags. I've never thought of this, but Big Al's Brewery is a short walk from here. Some Sundays we make it part of our shopping stroll; after we get incredibly good deals on veggies at Samway (carefully stowed in cloth bags!), ice cream from Full Tilt and either a pizza from Proletariat Pizza or the Bee Special from the Triangle, we take a growler to fill up at Big Al's.

So for the sake of the Lenten Carbon Fast, I resolve to ask them about their grain bags - I wouldn't be surprised if they reuse them somehow (since they're pretty cool neighbors) but let's find out. A trip to a brewry on Sunday is practically a spiritual exercise!