Clean Reusable Totes, Or Risk Going Green

Your reusable totes may be full of bacteria and can turn you seriously “green”. Time to practice good bag hygiene. 

Researchers at the University of Arizona tested 84 reusable shopping totes and found over half were contaminated with harmful bacteria, including the dangerous E.coli. Contamination occurs when fluids such as fruit juices and meat blood leak from their packaging and deposit miniscule droplets onto the bag material. Fungus and mold can also thrive among the fibers.  Appetising, eh? We plop these bags onto supermarket check-out belts, car trunks, driveways, and kitchen counters. None of these surfaces are sparkling clean; the bags up their invisible “ick” factor with each movement.

The study also showed that most bags are never washed.

Do a healthcheck of that last stat amongst your recycled-bag-using peers: unless mine are especially piggish, none (myself included) ever toss the totes into a hot wash. I’m guilty of throwing the grungiest bag out and buying another, and I see that’s not much better than if I went for plastic in the first place.

Handbags are another germ magnet

During an annual Christmas dinner, my pal Agnes gifted me a dainty enamel butterfly with what looked like a meat hook coming out of its bum. She explained it was a purse hanger and proceeded to destroy everyone’s appetite describing all the invisible schmuck crawling on my purse’s bottom.

Maybe you’ve seen these things? The pretty butterfly alights atop a table, and the fat hook suspends your bag – germfree – below.

I took her point. My favorite bag is “well-seasoned”; it’s clocked more miles than Richard Branson. I take it everywhere, and plunk it down on the floor without thinking twice. I’ve never washed a handbag. Have you?

Good handbag hygiene suggests a daily wipe-down of the exterior with an anti-bacterial soap. Sheesh, who has the time? We ought to keep an eye on what’s inside the bag too: stow lotions, potions and food products in sealable containers. Tighten the caps.

I do wash my backpack. I know better than to let this workhorse fester from the invisible hitchhikers it picks up at the gym and on hikes and in overhead airplane bins.

Same tips apply to our other household reusables

Fruit bowls are an attractive nuisance. Over-ripened fruit and veg can harbor bugs called pseudomonas which can cause infections and severe gastrointestinal upset. Listeria and salmonella also creep inside the cornucopia.

Recall the E.coli organic cucumber outbreak that killed 26 and left thousands gravely ill? Always wash your produce. Swab your storage containers weekly.

Remember that “punish good deeds” folder?  Good to get multiple uses from plastic drinks bottles, but refillings will likely contain high levels of bacteria unless bottles are properly cleaned, and refilled with hands that are, in turn, properly cleaned. So, after a week of careful refilling, drop commercial water bottles into recycling. Give your sports-type water bottle a weekly wash in boiling water.

Soft toys are stuffed with dust mites

According to a story in the Daily Mail, researchers at New Zealand’s Otago University found more than half the cuddly toys tested contained high levels of these critters known to aggravate eczema, allergies and asthma.

I learned this fact in the ‘90s. My eldest is mildly asthmatic; his Spartan bedroom was an allergen-free showroom.  Easily dusted Lego and plastic Godzillas were the only tenants on his shelves. But for a dozen years, my daughter slept in a sea of Beanie Babies. This kid could sleep in a sandstorm and not sneeze, but I still took precautions. Every week I tossed her toys in the dryer for an hour’s hot tumble. Not even the mightiest of mites could survive.

Better yet, ban plush toys as bedfellows.  And never, ever put them in your marketing tote or fruit bowl.