I do the same thing, but... grocery store bags are pretty small. I would imagine you would need to use a number of grocery store bags to hold the equivalent amount of a black drawstring bag most people use.
I also use a reusable bag for most my grocery shopping. I know a number of people who use cloth bags.
I do know there are programs which seek to collect plastic bags and recycle them, but I've never actually looked into what they are being used for.
If you feel like your contribution of recycling grocery store bags is meaningful, I don't think you should stop.
Those grocery bags from the store take up to 1000 years to degrade in landfill. Not using them for your home garbage means you could look for biodegradable or compostable plastic bags. Or use an actual compost bin and use less garbage bags as a result.
If the grocery store uses bio-bags then that's a win for the environment. It's all about putting pressure on those nasty 1000 year bags until we see change for the better.
Yep, that's by far most recyclable item in the house. The usage balloons with various (mostly unpleasant) cases such as diapered baby, sick cat or just plain love for French cheeses. I guess it's far more enviromentally friendly to use an entire 13 gallon trash bag per each of those incidents.
> I guess it's far more environmentally friendly to use an entire 13 gallon trash bag per each of those incidents.
That's an absurd assumption. You can purchase a small amount of ziploc style bags for such cases, which are right-sized and thus less wasteful and also are better suited for the task as they have a proper seal.
And as you correctly noted, ZipLoc bags are not a staple of most households, one needs to remember to purchase them. Trash bags are in a "must have" league with toilet paper and tooth paste.
That's anecdotal. Please see the extensively sourced section in the article you cited titled FACT: Large Amounts Of Plastic Bags Aren't Easily Reused Or Recycled
I also use a reusable bag for most my grocery shopping. I know a number of people who use cloth bags.
I do know there are programs which seek to collect plastic bags and recycle them, but I've never actually looked into what they are being used for.
If you feel like your contribution of recycling grocery store bags is meaningful, I don't think you should stop.