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The Indiana Daily Student

New study says those with reusable bags more likely to buy sweets

Bloomington resident Genevieve Pritchard bags her groceries at Bloomingfoods Elm Heights on Tuesday. Pritchard said she was surprised to hear that using a resusable bag reportedly influences shoppers' decisions about buying healthy foods. "Maybe at a place like Kroger or Marsh," she said.

You’re browsing the aisles at the supermarket with your reusable shopping bags in tow. Since you’re already being eco-friendly, you might as well pick up the organic ?broccoli.

At this point you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. You finally remembered to get the bags out of your trunk, you’re eating broccoli for dinner and you’re helping the environment. You deserve some ice cream.

This thought process is not uncommon. A recent Harvard University study found people who bring their own shopping bags to the grocery store are more likely to buy environmentally friendly items as well as “indulgent” foods such as ice cream, candy or chips.

“We don’t always know our motivations for things,” said Kristin Brethova, the assistant director for the Office of Sustainability. “If we’re using a reusable bag we think, ‘Oh, I must really care about the environment.’ We take a cue about our priorities from our behaviors.”

It’s called the foot-in-the door phenomenon, where people are more likely to agree to something if they’ve already complied in a smaller way. So that explains why shoppers bought more organic and environmentally-friendly products, but what about the junk food?

The researchers who conducted the study explain these purchases were probably due to moral licensing. This is the idea that when you do something good or moral, such as using an eco-friendly bag, you worry less about subsequent “immoral” behaviors, such as eating a tub of cookie dough. It’s your mind’s way of rewarding you for a good deed, whether you’re aware of it or not.

“We support anything that helps increase the use of environmentally-friendly products,” Bloomingfoods employee Donna Storm said. “If that means eating ice cream, that’s not too bad.”

Storm said many Bloomingfoods shoppers use reusable totes and have for a long time. The store sells the ?bags for $1.

“I don’t really notice anything specific about people who are using the bags or what they’re buying,” she said. “It’s just been a tradition here for a long while, so maybe the novelty has worn off.”

That, or the traditionally health-conscious store makes it difficult for anyone to indulge in some old-fashioned, processed junk.

Brandon Miliate, a regular Bloomingfoods customer, ?almost always uses the reusable totes, he said, but mostly because they’re practical.

“I don’t like having the extra bags around my house, and the reusable ones are also sturdier so I don’t have to worry about them breaking when I’m walking home with my groceries,” Miliate said. “I might give myself a little pat on the back for helping the environment, though.”

The environmental impacts are substantial. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the average American family brings home about 1,500 plastic bags a year. That adds up to 100 million plastic bags being thrown away in America. Producing that many bags requires 12 ?million barrels of oil.

“It’s kind of stunning how many plastic bags you can come home with on an average grocery trip,” Brethova said. “These bags don’t biodegrade, so try to find other ways to get use out of them, like carrying your muddy shoes in them or something.”

The EPA estimates less than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the United States.

“Next time I’m shopping, I might have to buy myself some ice cream,” ?Miliate said.

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