The reusable bag I bought for $12 in 2019 is finally wearing out

I dug out that canvas tote from a Portland grocery store and my math says I've used it maybe 400 times, which works out to about 3 cents a haul if I ignore the guilt about the other 50 plastic bags I still accept when I forget it. The handles are fraying and the bottom has a hole, but throwing it away feels like admitting the whole effort was pointless. Has anyone else hit the weird milestone where their eco-friendly gear outlives their sense of doing any good, and what did you do with the wreckage?

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matthewdixon21d ago

Repairing that thing is a whole different level of commitment. I patched a similar bag with an old denim patch and a needle from a hotel sewing kit, got another couple hundred uses out of it before the straps gave up completely. The trick is to stop thinking of it as a single item and start treating it like a project, you know, something you maintain instead of consume. But the real kicker is when you realize the other bags you forgot at home are the actual environmental cost, and this one just becomes a symbol of trying. Eventually I cut the bottom off mine and use it as a rag pile, because throwing it in the trash feels like erasing the whole story.