A guy at the Evanston farmers market called my reusable bags "costume jewelry" and he was right

Lee Bailey · 2026-10-09T05:45:05.3654+00:00

I've been bringing canvas totes to the Evanston farmers market every Saturday for about two years, and I felt pretty good about it. Last month this older guy running a tomato stand watched me pull out four bags and said, "Those are nice, but what's in the plastic clamshells you're loading them into?" I looked down and yeah, I had berries in plastic, cheese wrapped in saran, and a plastic tub of hummus. He wasn't mean about it, he just said the bags were doing about 20 percent of the job. That night I went through my kitchen trash and counted 11 pieces of single-use plastic from one market trip. So I switched to bringing my own glass jars and a couple of cloth produce sacks, plus I buy the cheese from the guy who cuts it fresh onto paper. I started this in April and by June I was down to maybe two plastic items per trip. My market haul looks weird now but it costs me the same. Has anyone found a good way to handle berries without the clamshells, because that's still my weak spot?

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A guy at the Evanston farmers market called my reusable bags "costume jewelry" and he was right | Climate Action - Discusd