Los Angeles recently became the biggest city in the country to ban free plastic bags. If you go shopping in Los Angeles, you will soon need to be prepared with your own bags or buy a paper bag for $0.10. That’s great, and a step I expect more places to take in time. But why wait? You can decline plastic bags already and just bring your own.

I’m not suggesting the cheap bags so many stores sell for $1. They work for a time, but aren’t all that durable, and they’re plastic too. Better to find or make more durable bags.

The key here is building up the habit of carrying your bags. If you’re doing it without a ban to remind you, you have to motivate yourself. Find that perfect place to store your reusable bags so that they will come with you when you go shopping. This could be with your purse, on the doorknob, in the car, wherever works for you.

The simple truth is that plastic bags are most often a waste. Some people find a way to reuse the bags, but too many end up in the landfill or as litter. You don’t have to wait for someone else to demand that you stop being a part of the problem – you can choose that for yourself.