This is a popular item but one that I felt compelled to highlight nonetheless: The Cloth Produce Bag
During any lifestyle changes, you start to see things with new eyes. Old habits suddenly look entirely different. My friend, Cheri, bought me mesh bags about seven years ago and I've been using them ever since. At the time, I didn't give it much thought, but looking back, I've used those mesh bags thousands of times by now between all of the produce and bulk items I've purchased. That means that thousands of flimsy plastic produce bags never made their way to a landfill or the ocean on my account. Every tiny action adds up to something bigger.
I've continued to use my mesh bags but when it was time to add a few more to the stash, I opted for cloth produce bags. Cotton cloth is biodegradable and mesh is made out of nylon, which, of course, is plastic. It seems wasteful to throw them out just to buy new cloth ones so instead we are slowly phasing them out naturally. If you decide that produce bags are worth the investment (which they definitely are in my opinion!) please purchase organic cloth ones, or even better, make them out of old t-shirts or the like. As an added bonus, the cloth bags make a great travel companion as they can hold your food and snacks where ever you go and even second as a napkin!