Paper or plastic?
September 4th, 2007 by Eric
Here’s the deal. Each time you run out of milk or eggs and make that trip to the grocery store you get a few plastic bags. Those add up to an average of 500 billion to 1 trillion each year globally with 380 billion being used from sea to shining sea. Since these “film plastics” are non-biodegradable, difficult and expensive to recycle, break down into smaller, more toxic particles, and can prove the bane of many of our co-habitants on land, in the air, and at sea, this is a serious problem.
You might think that the answer is to use paper bags. Nice thought, but only if they are recycled. The amount of energy used to make and distribute paper bags is more than double that plastic and, according to the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment:
Paper bags need a recycling rate of at least 50% to be more energy efficient than twice the number of plastics.
So what is the solution? Chances are you would have to go way out of your way to recycle plastic bags. And even if you make the effort, there is no guarantee that they will actually be recycled. In fact, according to reusablebags.com:
Many bags collected for recycling never get recycled. A growing trend is to ship them to Third world countries like India and China which are rapidly becoming the dumping grounds for the Western world’s glut of recyclables. Rather than being recycled they are cheaply incinerated under more lax environmental laws.
One solution is to either reuse the plastic bags or don’t use them at all. I bring my own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store; they’re bigger and easier to carry I, being incredibly lazy, don’t have to wrap ten plastic bags around my wrist in order to avoid making two trips into the house. Plus, how many times have those bags broken while you carried them, spilling your groceries all over the parking lot? So bring your own bags, empty them out at home and put them back in the car for the next trip.
But we’re a forgetful species, and sometimes those reusables get left in the house when you go to the store. So for those times when you have to get plastic bags, here’s a creative list of ways to reuse them.
But for you outside-the-box thinkers, and we know the Progressive Wednesday crowd is full them, consider writing to your local stores and/or legislature to encourage them to jump on board in helping solve this problem. This link has a great letter to send to local retailers suggesting a credit per bag for those who bring their own (Costco, IKEA, and Whole Foods are already doing this). Or use this letter to encourage your state or local representative to propose a tax on plastic bag usage. Countries who have used this method claim to have a 90% decrease in usage and have raised as much as $9.6 million to help benefit the environment. Either way, these are great progressive steps to solve this problem. So do your part, and encourage other to do theirs.
This photo’s daddy is recyle-obsessed. Good for him.
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