I get the ," Look at the crazy lady" stares when I shop. My bags are the net beach bags because they strech and I ask for a box from the back for my meat. ( My store stocks on Tuesdays and Fridays so thats when I do my big shopping) I keep them in my car so I wont forget them.
We recycle as much as we can so that cuts down on our trash. I also look for biodegradable trash bags or buy online.
http://yhst-38838590695732.stores.yahoo.net/
I have a compost pile and we don't buy items in pastic jars unless we can't find a glass one like cottage cheese, sour cream or yogurt. Peanut butter, mayo, syrup , pickles, honey, ketchup can all be bought in glass. Just remember to take the lids off before you put them in a recycle bin or they wont recycle them.
We can't help how they package things but we try to do what we can to lighten the load on the landfields from our house. We ask for paper bags if we run out of our bags but sometime the stores don't have paper anymore so we make a note to to bring more bags for that store next time.
I have started canning and freezing veggies so we can cut out canned veggies too but again not always possible.
Someone said something about burning trash earlier but around here in Orangeburg they will fine you if you burn plastic, diapers, or other such house hold waste. They consider it a pollutant that will enter the air and harm ground water when the ashes are rained on or hosed down. I do however burn boxes from powdered milk, noodles and the paper bags our flower and sugar come in.