BlogHer - Banning the Bag: Plastic Gets the Boot - Comments

Down with plastic bags

assertagirl — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:47:46 -0500

We're taking a stand against plastic bag use at our house, too! The ones we do have on hand are being reused, and I donate them to our local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store for re-use. I had a long chat with the cashier at Loblaws recently, who admitted she wishes more customers would bring their own containers for their groceries. We use old Knob Hill Farms baskets, which are black plastic baskets the size of laundry baskets.

Click here for a great project for re-using the plastic bags around your house.

I blog at Assertagirl and Playing in the Dirt.

Thanks for writing about

Csamuels — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:21:04 -0500

Thanks for writing about this! It's good to remember that sometimes a bag is more than a bag... but I'm confused. Whole Foods signs tell us that paper bags take a higher environmental toll. Is that wrong? We use them, by the way, to hold newspapers all week then put the full bag into the recycling.

We return all our plastic bags to the store - to a bin outside. By the daily toll of bags I'd say a lot of people are trying. Re-usable bags are hard if you shop infrequently or at lots of different stores.

Has anyone noticed a gender difference re recycling byt he way? In my neighborhood husbands often complain that their wives are "the recycling maniacs."

Cynthia Samuels, Partner
Cobblestone Associates, LLP
Media Strategies and Content Development Online and on Television

Banning the Bag: Plastic Gets the Boot

mipmup — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:33:51 -0500

Areas around the world including Australia, the United Kingdom, Paris, San Francisco, Bangladesh, South Africa, Shanghai and Taiwan are addressing the negative environmental impact of plastic bags head-on. Through taxation or outright banning, the bags that pile on the litter, take 1,000 years to decompose and despite being resuable and recyclable, are thrown away to the tune of 100 billion each year in America alone, are being edged out. Some statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which urges consumers to buy reusable bags (I highly recommend reusablebags.com):

In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by five million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
When one ton of paper bags is reused or recycled, three cubic meters of landfill space is saved and 13 - 17 trees are spared! In 1997, 955,000 tons of paper bags were used in the United States.
When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.

Who is writing about this critical environmental issue which faces consumers across the globe?

Read what IKEA is doing about the problem at Oh My Stinkin' Heck.

Read a Canadian perspective and statistics at RK's Responsible Living, the blog of a freelance writer, editor and activist in Toronto.

Stumped about how to reuse your plastic bag? Visit No More Plastic Bags Please! to learn how to make a plastic bag bra.

BlogHer Green and Eco-conscious Editor mipmup also blogs at mipmup.

Photo credit: Morguefile by Carlos Paes