Infographic: The cost of a plastic bag

Recently, our little bubble of a natural, eco-obsessed town became even more so when we decided to bag... bags. Boulder, Colo. instituted a bag tax July 1st in an effort to alter shopper behavior.

Paper & plastic

It worked on me. I'm all for stuffing my purse/pockets with purchased goods and piling products so high that I'm risking some serious cleanup at checkout—all just to avoid stuffing another bag into my bag of bags. But, when faced with the impossible, I'd been known to occasionally breakdown.

Not anymore! As if I didn't feel enough of my own self-generated guilt, reaching back into my wallet for a dime proved just the thing that would take my pile to the next level on principle. (Yes, I also have a bag full of reusable bags... but who remembers to bring those?)

Though not everyone agrees, there are two upsides, as I see it:

Now the cost of a bag in Boulder is 10 cents, not a lot, but perhaps enough to offset some of the price we pay when we bag away.