The first stop we always make on a trip to France is to go to the grocery store, so that we can stock the fridge at our house for the week. There is a Casino superstore in nearby Pamiers, and while it is not my favorite food emporium, they usually have everything that we need.
One thing that struck me is that everyone was using these recycled bags. A lot of us do that in San Francisco, but you still see a fair amount of paper and plastic bags going out the door. Not so here. At this huge grocery store (sort of like a Target Greatland) not ONE person used a paper or plastic bag. In fact, they were so far hidden underneath the counter, that I thought that they might have done away with them altogether.
This was an amazing and inspiring thing, and new since I had been there just 2 years ago. We proudly used our Casino recycled bags everywhere we went that week, and left them in the house for the next guests to use. Can you imagine if everyone in the United States adopted this practice? It really takes little effort, and I am sure makes a huge impact on waste and the environment, not to mention the profitability of the store. And in these tough times, all businesses could do with a little more profit.
