Local Chicago artist Cydney Lewis, and friend of our founder Vincent Cobb and his wife Marni, creates one-of-a-kind sculptures out of everyday items. Rather than throwing away plastic, paper, wire and wood, Lewis fashions the would-be trash into wonderful pieces of art.
Lewis's jewelry pieces are being sold at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
Our Take: Another example of a growing trend we’re seeing – using throwaway items we think of as trash or a nuisance and turning them into something artistic. Artwork that repurposes our waste helps draw attention to the issue of consumption in a creative way.
Sure those throwaway items in the kitchen - coffee filters, paper towels, napkins - are convenient, but eventually the cost of all that use-and-toss stuff starts adding up, and then there's the guilt from adding to landfills. Instead of using disposables, why not invest in reusables and save in the long run? Here are some ideas.
Our Take: A great article that provides simple ways to reduce consumption – beyond disposable bags and bottles. Nice to see advice from a major publication that aligns with what we’ve been advocating for years with our family of high quality reusables.
During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York.
Our Take: A cool, artistic take on the plastic bag issue that also shows the ubiquity of plastic bags in our trees, cityscapes and landscapes, sadly.
Looking back on it now, the straw that broke America's back was the advent of the no-deposit, no-return bottle.
For a generation, Americans had paid a 2-cent deposit on their soft-drink and beer bottles. No decent American, imbued with Yankee thrift, could bear to throw one away...
A decade later, Americans were happily heaving out 30 million no-deposit, no-return bottles a day. Guilt free.
It was the beginning of the nation's new Never-Use-Anything-Twice syndrome.
Amid a recent flurry of worrisome reports about plastic, a simple question came up: Could we live without it?
I decided to try. For one week, I pledged to buy no new plastic and to keep the kids away from it as much as possible.
Our Take: A great article by a working mom that shows it’s possible to make gradual changes towards consuming less plastic in our daily lives. She discovers the wisdom of reusables – and reinforces that none of us will ever eliminate plastic items, but every small step makes a big difference!
Mountains of garbage have never looked more beautiful than in Vivan Sundaram’s photographs. His exhibit “Trash,” now on view in Manhattan’s Sepia gallery (before traveling to Sydney and Tokyo), includes 15 large-scale photos and three video installations that depict the underside of the economic boom gripping his home city, Delhi. Used soda cans, soiled milk bags, empty yogurt containers, dirty toothbrushes and plastic toys mix with industrial waste products to create a striking indictment of consumption.
Our Take:Trash as art compels us to stop and think about what happens to all of these “things” we consume, whether recycled or not. It also shines a light on the culture of consumption that has made its way to India – a country known for its cradle-to-grave recycling practices.
Plastic packaging and bottles that consumers believe are going to local recycling plants are ending up buried in India, according to a UK news investigation.
[Reporter] Mark Jordan travelled to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and discovered wells of British-branded rubbish, estimated to be around 30 feet deep...Concerned locals told the investigation that there were at least ten such waste wells and that the pits also contained American waste.
Our Take: It’s an inconvenient truth that many items entering the
recycling stream don’t get recycled. We’re seeing increasing evidence
of recyclables getting burned or buried in landfills -- or shipped
overseas. Recycling has its place in reducing waste -- but it’s no
silver bullet (e.g., it doesn’t change consumption).
Want to learn more about why recycling doesn’t work for plastic bags? See our myth-busting article:Recycling Can Fix This, Right?
Shouldn't we all, with the price of oil - yes, they're made with oil - and environmental worries, be moving to reusable shopping bags and bins? Plastic shopping bags are a blight, and they never - for all practical purposes - go away.
Like that cool site that tracks the growth of the U.S. national debt, Reusable Bags shows the growing number of plastic bags used around the world. It's almost 1 million every minute.
Maui native Micah Wolf teams up with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and photographer Ben Moon to create this powerful music video that empowers us to do something about the amount of plastics in our oceans.
Of 500,000 albatross chicks born each year on Midway Atoll, about 200,000 die of starvation. The awful truth—in their searches of the ocean surface, albatrosses mistake plastic trash for food and end up feeding Lego blocks, clothespins, plastic bag bits and a host of other man-made junk to their chicks. As a result, the large amount of plastic crowding the chick’s stomach leaves little room for food and liquid. The amount of plastic floating in our oceans has grown dramatically over the last fifty years. Anthony L. Andrady, a polymer chemist at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina says that plastic takes decades to break down on land, but even longer at sea because the water keeps the plastic cool and algae blocks ultraviolet rays. “Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere.”
A couple of websites recently caught our attention, each detailing the Sci-Fi-esque (but very real) floating plastic island located approximately 500 nautical miles off the California coast. "The island" is a grotesquely large patch of floating plastic trash held together by currents stretching across the northern Pacific almost as far as Japan. Discovered by Charles Moore, this "plastic island" is made up of about 7 billion pounds of plastic garbage.
Sea preserves a plastic plague - LA Times 08.03.07
The LA Times produced a fantastic five-part multimedia series on the state of our altered oceans. Part four delves into the “plastic island”, officially called a gyre. This disturbing presentation features great videos, haunting photography and lots of helpful information. Link: Sea preserves a plastic plague
Plastic patch in pacific grows to twice the size of the US - Daily Kos 02.06.08
Another great site investigating this mess is the Daily Kos. They feature an interview with Marcus Eriksen, one of the research directors at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (the same folks sailing the “Junk Raft”). Eriksen said: "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States." Link: Plastic patch in pacific grows to twice the size of the US
The trash vortex - Greenpeace International 11.12.06
Greenpeace created this cool, simple visual explaining “the island”—“Plastic trash and other flotsam that is either directly thrown or washed by rivers into the North Pacific, is swept up by the currents of a gigantic swirling vortex called the North Pacific Gyre. In the centre, the calm, just northeast of Hawai’i the result is a trash carpet that scientists calculate has now reached the size of Texas.” Link: The Trash Vortex
Our Take: There is a similarity between this huge plastic island in the middle of the ocean and the enormity of plastic bag consumption. Scientists can't agree on the size of "the island" just like no one knows exactly how many plastic bags are being produced and consumed. The one thing everyone agrees on is that the scale of both is huge and deserves our attention. This "island" is the direct effect of our overconsumption. By achieving a significant reduction in use-and-toss items, we can actually make a difference.
On Monday, the City Council [of Seattle] approved a 20-cent fee, starting in January, for each disposable paper or plastic bag used at grocery, drug and convenience stores. While other U.S. cities have banned plastic bags, Seattle is believed to be the first to discourage use by charging a fee. Although the new fee may force Seattle residents to permanently alter their shopping habits, council members said the environmentally correct behavior will become natural, just like recycling.
The city plans to give at least one free, reusable bag to each household, and the council directed Seattle Public Utilities to come up with a plan by the end of November on how to provide extra bags to low-income residents.
Our Take: This is major news. Seattle is the first U.S. city to follow Ireland's lead in implementing a successful plastic bag fee model. We are confident that Seattle residents will alter their shopping habits quickly - reusable shopping bags will become an integrated part of life in the Emerald City and plastic bag overconsumption will disappear. Seattle City Councilmember, Tim Burgess said it best - "I think that after a few months of legislation, we will wonder what all the fuss is about."
Watch for the plastic bag industry to violently attack this fee based model since it represents the beginning of a paradigm shift.
Support California's landmark legislation to reduce plastic bag consumption—and fight industry's spin to "save the plastic bag"
The American Chemistry Council and plastic bag manufacturers have joined forces to launch a web and radio campaign to stop California’s proposed plastic bag fee, modeled after Ireland’s hugely successful Plastax initiative. Basically, the campaign distorts the facts and scares Californians into thinking the legislation will cost them more money, when the reverse is true.
We just found out about this and here's what we plan to do to support California's policy and help them be a model for cities across the U.S.:
-Post the excellent blog that alerted us to this development in our Newsroom, which gets more than 250,000 unique visitors a month, and add it to our Top Stories Newsletter, which has 8,000 subscribers.
-Inspire people from all states to tell their Senators to address the issue of plastic bag pollution! Use the form letters provided here to contact your state legislators.
The American Chemistry Council is using scare tactics and twisted facts on the issue of plastic bags because they don't have a leg to stand on. They're feigning concern about rapid deforestation, should consumers kick the plastic-bag addiction and replace it with paper bags, totally (and conveniently) ignoring the very viable solution of reusable bags.
YES, WE’LL HAVE TO FIGHT to get the real facts out there: Taxpayers DO shoulder the costs of plastic bags in countless ways. Recycling of plastic bags is a paltry 5%, at best. And paper is no better an alternative. It's time to wake up and focus on long-term solutions, not spin. Click here to learn more about the plastic bag issue.
Late last week, a fantastic slide show making its way around the internet
caught our eye. Using a potent
combination of facts and images, it
tells the story of plastic bag
over-consumption we first laid out at our web
site five years ago. Its short, visual format
provides an incredible tool to educate and
inform.
We liked the slide show so much, we hustled to:
Convert and post it as an easy-to-view
video on YouTube, opening it up to millions
worldwide.
Discover who produced it and give them
credit. It turns out to be a fellow
Chicagoan! Vishal Mody - a public school
teacher.
Share it with you, our 80,000+
newsletter subscribers, and post it in our Newsroom.
Please take just 4 minutes to watch it and help spread the word!
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to ban plastic carryout bags in the city's supermarkets and stores by July 2010 -- but only if the state fails to impose a 25-cent fee on every shopper who requests them.
Council members said they hope an impending ban would spur consumers to begin carrying canvas or other reusable bags, reducing the amount of plastic that washes into the city's storm drains and the ocean.
"This is a major moment for our city, to bite the bullet and go with something that is more ecologically sensitive than what we've ever done before," said Councilman Bill Rosendahl...
Our Take: Bravo, California! Los Angeles joins the ranks of San Francisco in reducing plastic bag consumption. However, the biggest news is not the ban, but that Los Angeles is the first major U.S. city to vote to implement a plastic bag tax, by charging $.25 for “use-and-toss” bags, should the legislature not pass a statewide ban. A similar Plastax in Ireland reduced plastic bag consumption by 90%, and we are really excited to see the first U.S. effort to do the same. Even more importantly, Los Angeles also takes aim at paper bags, sending the message that over consumption of any kind is wasteful.
Los Angeles alone will put a dent in plastic bag consumption by reducing the 2.3 billion plastic bags it uses each year. We hope the city proves to be a model for many more across the nation.
Portlanders drive an average of three fewer miles a day than the average American Joe. We have more certified green buildings per capita than any other U.S. city. Time to kick back with an organic IPA and watch the clouds go by, right? Hardly. Wake up, Portland. We’re slipping. Sometime between Gov. Tom McCall’s speeches and Al Gore’s Nobel Prize, Portland ceded the green crown.
Making international news on Monday, 250 US mayors voted to put an end to using taxpayer money to purchase bottled water for its employees and functions. This is bad news for the likes of Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., who have enjoyed a steady increase in sales the last few years. Bottled water requires vast amounts of petroleum to produce—both in the manufacturing of the bottles and in the shipping process.
Our Take: Well done US mayors! While critics of the resolution call it “sound-bite environmentalism”, we say it’s leading by example. Encouraging employees and in so doing, citizens, to drink tap water (which is held to higher standards than bottled water) is a great step toward changing the minds of the masses. We think Gigi Kellett from Corporate Accountability International said it best: “It’s just plain common sense for cities to stop padding the bottled water industry’s bottom line at taxpayer expenses.” What do you think?
Reuters 04.18.08 Canada intends to become the first country to ban the import and sale of some types of plastic baby bottles because they contain a chemical that the government says could harm infants and toddlers. Health Minister Tony Clement said on Friday he would bring in rules to outlaw plastic polycarbonate baby bottles, perhaps within the next year. These bottles are made with bisphenol A, which is also used in food and water containers.
Thanks to friend of ReusableBags.com, Dave S. for turning us on to this clever artist, Joshua Allen Harris. He has crafted inflatable animals by tying plastic bags to subway grates in New York. The effect is very cool and a bit haunting.
As more and more cities and states consider plastic bag bans and tax proposals, companies are beginning to weigh their options. Biodegradable plastic bags are designed to quickly break down. But where does the plastic go?... The story also cites a staggering statistic: every year US plastic bag consumption = nine billion pounds. Listen to story…
Our Take: The plastic polymers are still there, but they are out of sight! These may become a popular choice for big brand companies/marketers looking to reduce negative exposure when their bags are hooked in trees and laying on sidewalks. While on the surface biodegradable bags may seem like a good idea, there’s a host of problems associated with them (e.g. A proliferation of biodegradable plastic bags will really screw up recycling efforts, they don’t get at the heart of the problem: consumption, etc. – click here for more…) This is a perfect example of a seemingly good idea that truly does more harm than good.) Link: Manufacturers Push Biodegradable Plastic Bags
Across the globe politicians and corporations are debating the effectiveness of plastic bag bans versus plastic bag taxes. Ireland, Italy and Belgium all tax plastic sacks, while places like San Francisco and China are banning them all together. Other countries and companies are implementing or considering recycling programs. Each attempt to deal with the issue has its pros and cons. According to Vincent Cobb, founder of ReusableBags.com, the movement has gained momentum. “We all have the tendency to buy too much stuff, and I think the symbolic nature is what has made this such a powerful thing.”
Our Take: Our founder was interviewed for this article – here is a quote: “A tax charged at checkout is what we need to change consumer behavior. Plastic bags aren’t inherently bad; it’s the mindlessness and volume of consumption.”
Using Ireland’s successful plastic bag tax as a model, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is proposing a 20 cent “green fee” on all disposable bags. The proposed fee is the first of its kind in the nation made by a mayor striving for a legacy of environmental stewardship. If the City Council approves, the fee would go into effect January 1. In an effort to ease the transition, the city will mail one reusable shopping bag to each household.
Our Take: Kudos to Mayor Nickels! This is big news – we’ve been laying down the challenge to US politicians for several years to take the bold move and implement a Plastax modeled initiative. (For the record San Francisco did attempt a “loosely” based model in 2005 which failed.) With Ireland’s disposable-bag use down 90 percent, Seattle is on the right track. Plastic industry interests will work hard to derail this since in all likelihood it will start a trend…it will be interesting to see what happens. What do you think?
View Good Morning America Now's segment on BYO-Bag. With a focus on how to remember your reusable shopping bags, many of the samples featured were from our store. Guest Olivia Zaleski "really recommend(s) looking at that website. They have everything for everyone."
Newsweek 02.04.08 Many common household products contain compounds that could be affecting our health. The shocking thing is that we really don't know the health effects of many of these chemicals on the market today. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, chemicals already in use were grandfathered in without scrutiny. These include the three classes of compounds targeted in a November report released by a coalition of environmental groups, "Is It in Us?"—a plastic strengthener called bisphenol A (BPA), brominated flame retardants known as PBDEs and plastic softeners called phthalates.
Bisphenol A is a basic constituent of the polycarbonate plastics found in many baby bottles, sippy cups and juice bottles. Although the chemical industry and FDA say they are safe, there is evidence to the contrary. Research studies show that low-dose exposures, particularly during gestation, may later lead to breast and prostate cancer, abnormalities in the reproductive tract and behavioral problems, among other things.
Phthalates have also raised concern: these compounds are used to soften the plastics in products such as rubber duckies, vinyl shower curtains, certain medical devices, and are also found in hundreds of personal care products (e.g. fragrances, body lotions, nail polishes and shampoos). Potential problems from exposure include abnormalities to the reproductive tract and a decline in sperm quality.
The flame retardants, PBDEs, are found in fabrics, upholstery, foam mattresses, circuit boards and the casings of computers and televisions and animal studies show they can have negative impacts on learning and memory, sperm counts and thyroid functioning.
Our Take: ReusableBags.com has been providing education, leadership and safe alternatives for the past five years. With more awareness of these issues, we hope to see some real change! A reminder that all the bottles we carry are BPA-free.
Check out this YouTube video that captures the essence of the mania surrounding last summer's arrival of Anya Hindmarch's much touted "I'm not a Plastic Bag" tote bag. (Great slogan - but a lousy reusable shopping bag.) This 2 minute video tells a simple story of absurdity. The following viewer comment says it all "Wow! It's amazing what we Americans will do..."
The plastic bag levy has increased to 22 cent today in a further bid to reduce littering.
The former minister for the environment Dick Roche announced the rise last February which comes after evidence suggested the initial impact of the tax in 2002 was beginning to weaken.
Statistics showed each shopper used 328 bags a year before its introduction compared to just 21 afterwards. However plastic bag usage rose to 30 bags per person during 2006. The levy is seen as one of the most successful anti-littering devices introduced in Ireland and was copied internationally.
It initially sparked a 90 per cent drop in the use of plastic bags.
The funds help finance local environmental projects such as recycling facilities.
In the perfect world of a farmer's market, the farmer picks and puts his crops into a reusable box and uses foot power to carry the goods to the marketplace. There, the customer buys the food, puts it into a string bag, walks home, cooks and eats it all.
Paper shopping bags are the latest casualty at Macy's stores.
Sales associates have been told to use plastic rather than the ostensibly classier paper bags with handles, which cost more to produce.
"Seeing your bags flapping in the trees is one of the worst things you can do today to affect a brand," said Vincent Cobb, founder and president of Reusablebags.com. He said grocers and convenience stores - not department stores - are the worst offenders.
To environmentalists, the paper vs. plastic discussion is irrelevant. Americans use too many disposable bags, period. True, plastic bags do not biodegrade, while paper does. But when you factor in the trees used to make heavier paper bags, plus the manufacturing and distribution, it's a wash, Cobb said.
"The ecological footprint of plastic isn't any worse than paper..."
HERE’S one popular vision for saving the planet: Roll out from under the sumptuous hemp-fiber sheets on your bed in the morning and pull on a pair of $245 organic cotton Levi’s and an Armani biodegradable knit shirt.
That vision of an eco-sensitive life as a series of choices about what to buy appeals to millions of consumers and arguably defines the current environmental movement as equal parts concern for the earth and for making a stylish statement.
Consumers have embraced living green, and for the most part the mainstream green movement has embraced green consumerism. But even at this moment of high visibility and impact for environmental activists, a splinter wing of the movement has begun to critique what it sometimes calls “light greens.”
Critics question the notion that we can avert global warming by buying so-called earth-friendly products, from clothing and cars to homes and vacations, when the cumulative effect of our consumption remains enormous and hazardous.
“There is a very common mind-set right now which holds that all that we’re going to need to do to avert the large-scale planetary catastrophes upon us is make slightly different shopping decisions,” said Alex Steffen, the executive editor of Worldchanging.com, a Web site devoted to sustainability issues.
The genuine solution, he and other critics say, is to significantly reduce one’s consumption of goods and resources.
News reports have cited a statistic that the ubiquitous receptacles take 500 years to break down in landfills. How do we know?
Actually, we don't. Plastic bags have only been around for about 50 years, so there's no firsthand evidence of their decomposition rate.
So, where does the 500-year statistic come from? Although standard polyethylene bags don't biodegrade, they do photodegrade. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, polyethylene's polymer chains become brittle and start to crack. This suggests that plastic bags will eventually fragment into microscopic granules. As of yet, however, scientists aren't sure how many centuries it takes for the sun to work its magic. That's why certain news sources cite a 500-year estimate while others prefer a more conservative 1,000-year lifespan. According to some plastics experts, all these figures are just another way of saying "a really, really long time."
Two weeks after becoming the first town in Europe to ban plastic bags from its shops, an extraordinary transformation has taken place in the south Devon community. Carrying a plastic bag has become antisocial behaviour.
Wicker baskets, rucksacks and reusable bags of every shape and size swing from the arms of shoppers in the bustling town of 1,500 people. But if you're spotted with a plastic one you risk becoming a social pariah.
Plastic bags of nearly every size and color known for carrying groceries, fast food and sometimes beer may become a thing of the past if Mr. Shropshire, D-Ward 7, has his way. He plans to introduce a bill to the City Council this summer prohibiting the distribution of plastic bags, with fines as high as $500 for violators.
Mr. Shropshire is calling for only recyclable paper bags or reusable bags to be used in an effort to help save the environment.
The move would put Annapolis on par with other cities that earlier this year banned plastic bags.
As Kenya chokes from an environmental crisis caused by plastic waste, efforts to battle the catastrophe over the years have come to naught.
Conservationists are blaming two culprits: The public, which has refused to shift from plastic shopping bags to environment-friendly ones, and manufacturers, who are frustrating clean-up efforts. Africa 2007
Nobel laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai, has been at the forefront in pleading with Kenyans to stop using plastic bags. She wants shoppers to carry kiondos, but they continue to use plastic bags with abandon.
An effort to curb the amount of waste being dumped in landfills and gunking up the environment includes the possibility of banning foam containers used for restaurant to-go food. A ban on the ubiquitous plastic grocery bags is also on the table.
"It's a major sustainability issue," Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin said. "How do we change our philosophical approach that waste is not something that is thrown out, but something that is integrated, the way nature does it?"
In case you’ve missed the growing anti-bag movement, which focuses on
non-biodegradable plastic bags but also takes a swipe at paper, you
should know that there are now two Americas. One is full of people
clicking onto websites such as 1bagatatime.com and reusablebags.com
and learning that non-biodegradable plastic bags not only choke turtles
and whales but also take 1,000 years to decompose in landfills,
contribute to global warming, and, because they’re made of
polyethylene, increase our dependency on foreign oil. The other is
inhabited by those who think no purchase is too small or lightweight
(e.g. chewing gum) to warrant bagging.
A measure to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and other large
retailers in Oakland was unanimously passed by a key City Council committee
Tuesday.
The measure, which is very similar to a ban adopted in San Francisco, will
be sent on to the full council next week and if approved will take effect in
August.
Under the measure sponsored by Councilwomen Nancy Nadel and Jean Quan, any
retailer grossing more than $1 million a year would be banned from using the
nonbiodegradable plastic bags. Nadel said that 10 percent of petroleum is used
to create plastic so that reducing the use of bags will help the environment in
multiple ways.
"Californians use 19 billion plastic disposable bags each year, and throw
away 600 every second," Nadel said. "These bags are made from oil, so reducing
their use will serve the mission of the 'Oil Independent Oakland by 2020' "
task force established last year.
Hear Howard Stern's comments on plastic bags upon San Francisco's announcement to be the first US city to ban plastic grocery bags:
"In this country, there are so many (plastic) bags. We bag everything - we bag our bags, we have bags for our bags. It is outrageous. All this plastic has nowhere to go, it's tremendous waste amount of garbage, and it's a completely wasteful things all these plastic bags."
Two school children have beaten off
adult competition from around Australia to dazzle the United
Nations with their campaign to banish plastic shopping bags from
Armstrong Street in Middle Park, Australia. And, after the project reduced plastic bag use in the shopping
strip by 34 per cent in its first four months, they have been
selected as finalists for the United Nations Association of Australia's 2007
World Environment Day Awards.
A SUPERMARKET in Edinburgh is to pilot a scheme of "green tills" allowing shoppers who are not using plastic carrier bags to get through the checkouts faster. Waitrose, in Morningside, is to hold a two-week trial where
customers who use the special tills will not be given plastic bags, but
have to bring their own bags. The move is designed to promote the reuse and recycling of carrier
bags - and to help Waitrose assess how customers would react to a
"bag-less supermarket" in future.
Our Take: Our Newsroom documents many of the creative ways that cities and stores are dealing with limiting the use of plastic bags. We thought Edinburgh's pilot project was interesting.
There's paper. There's
plastic. Then there's the $960 reusable Hermes shopping bag. Originally
designed for discerning Europeans, it hits America this summer, and if it sounds like an exotic fluke, consider the new $843 grocery tote by Italian designer Consuelo Castiglioni of Marni. Or the $495 organic cotton canvas shopper, due out in June from Stella McCartney. Or the now-famous I'm Not a Plastic bag by the British handbag designer Anya Hindmarch, which has been selling at more than ten times its $15 price on Ebay.
Our Take: Reusable bags are going mainstream and a little over the top... It's great to see fashionistas getting behind the cause, but let's dispel with eco-gimmicks and get real!
In the next two weeks state Sen. Brian Joyce,
D-Braintree, will file legislation that calls for gradually increasing
the fee stores will charge consumers for plastic grocery bags, starting
next year at 2 cents a bag. The idea is that consumers will reuse the
bags several times before throwing them away or use cloth shopping bags.
His
proposition comes on the heels of a plastic bag ban adopted by the city
of San Francisco in April. A similar measure was recently proposed in
Boston.
"I would really support doing
something to eliminate one-time use bags, said Brian Goins, general
manager of Bourne's Department of Integrated Solid Waste Management.
"It's a waste"
Joyce's legislation will provide a sliding fee
for each plastic bag given out by a store, starting at 2 cents and
increasing to 15 cents by 2014.
His
legislation would also make reusable bags, which are already sold at
grocery stores, tax deductible. Foods that require plastic bags for
freshness - such as meats - would be exempt from the fee. Paper bags
are not mentioned in the legislation.
...Plastic grocery sacks [are everywhere] except where they're supposed to be: in the recycling bin.
"They're a huge cause of litter, a very messy problem," says Mikal Heintz with the Yakima County's solid waste division.
Most grocery stores in Yakima have receptacles near their front doors for customers to recycle their used plastic bags.
Yet, we're not. Americans recycle less than 1 percent of the grocery bags leaving the store.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research
agency, Americans throw away 100 billion polyethylene (plastic grocery
sacks) every year...
How often do you hear a supermarket cashier ask, “Paper or plastic?”
In recent years, that question has more or less gone by the wayside. For the most part, checkers automatically pack groceries in the less expensive plastic unless directed by customers to do otherwise...
B.Y.O. Bag is the greener grocer's new rallying cry, as many supermarkets have started selling inexpensive, reusable plastic bags (in addition to longstanding canvas and cloth bags) in an effort to reduce plastic waste.
What's fueling this sea change toward conservation? Just gaze along litter-strewn roadsides, in wind-swept alley corners or up in tree branches...
“The worst spot we see in the city is the (one-acre) rose garden at Maplewood. Just this spring we had 2,000 plastic bags stuck on the thorns,” notes Jim Farr, Rochester's assistant director of recreation...
Paper or plastic? Neither -- bring a reusable bag. According to 'An Inconvienent Truth,' it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bags Americans use each year. In addition, about 15 million trees are cut down to produce paper for paper bags. Help reduce oil consumption and save trees by bringing your own bag on your next trip to the store.
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to become the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets to help promote recycling.
Under the legislation, beginning in six months large supermarkets and drugstores will not be allowed to offer plastic bags made from petroleum products.
"Many [foreign] cities and nations have already implemented very similar legislation," said Ross Mirkarimi, the city legislator who championed the new law. "It's astounding that San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to follow suit."
ReusableBags.com founder Vincent Cobb interviewed by ABC News about IKEA implementing a charge for plastic bags, BYOB (bring your own bag) trends in the U.S. and other "banning the plastic bag" initiatives.
PHILADELPHIA - Sweden's IKEA will charge U.S.
customers five cents for disposable plastic shopping bags in what the
international furniture giant said on Wednesday was a first step to
ending their use altogether.
IKEA
said the decision to stop giving away free bags to customers aimed to
reduce the estimated 100 billion bags thrown away by all U.S. consumers
each year.
IKEA is
believed to be first retailer in the United States to undertake such a
program, according to National Retail Federation spokesman Scott
Krugman.
1) Re-Use as a grocery bag. Simply place a few in your purse or pocket before shopping.
2) Re-Use as packing material. Wad the bags up and pack around the materials to be packed.
3) Re-Use them as trash bags. They are perfect to line small
household waste baskets. You can use the handles to tie them shut when
they full.
4) Cut into strips to make into a washable placemat or rug. (See pattern below)
5) Storage bags. Simply store and hang items you need to put away.
6) Make Into rope by Finger Crocheting. You can use this rope for a clothes line, or a child's jump rope.
7) Hanging Planter. There are expensive plastic bags on the market
which are just plastic with some holes speared in them. You can hang
the plant anywhere. Just use two or three plastic bags together for
strength and then fill with dirt and plants. Water regularly.
8) Emergency Rain hats. Tie one over your coif for rain protection.
9) Emergency Diaper (nappy) cover. In a pinch a plastic grocery or bread bag makes a nice emergency disposable cover!
10) Washable Shelf Liners. Cut and tack for a nice washable shelf liner.
Environmentally Speaking by Michael Jessen They're cheap, functional, lightweight, resource efficient, moisture
resistant � and too popular! The seemingly innocuous plastic bag is
under attack around the world as countries from Ireland to Australia
seek to tax or ban them.
Relied on by consumers to do everything from carrying groceries to
scooping up doggie do and disposing of garbage, plastic bag use has
mushroomed in North America and Western Europe. Factories churned out
an astounding four to five trillion of them in 2002, ranging from large
trash bags to thick shopping totes to flimsy grocery sacks.
"Every time we use a new plastic bag they go and get more petroleum
from the Middle East and bring it over in tankers," says Stephanie
Barger, ERF's executive director. "We are extracting and destroying the
Earth to use a plastic bag for 10 minutes."
The New York Times 7.01.07
Slate 06.27.07
Seattlepi.com 06.07.07
Reuters 03.28.07
