bag lady

okay since Alina brought it up, let's talk about shopping bags. Here is some information comparing paper vs. plastic:

To make all the bags we use each year, it takes 14 million trees for paper and 12 million barrels of oil for plastic. The production of paper bags creates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic, but plastic bags create four times the solid waste — enough to fill the Empire State Building two and a half times. And they can last up to a thousand years.
Plastic, because it's cheaper to produce, is the overwhelming choice of grocery stores across the nation — the average family of four uses almost 1,500 of these a year.

For both types of bags, the environmentalist mantra is the same — reuse and recycle. But the best choice, they say, is cloth or canvas, and BYOB — bring your own bags.

Here is some more information I found on www.reusablebags.com:

Top Facts - Consumption

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year—900 per person.

According to Australia’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year—326 per person. An estimated .7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.

Top Facts - Environmental Impact

Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

here's what I'm going to do:

I have actually been using cloth bags for a while now and I LOVE them. Not only does it help the environment but since they are stronger than plastic bags, they hold more groceries and you can put the strap on your shoulder. Now I don't even have to take the cart out to my car, I can just carry everything in 2 or 3 bags instead of lots of smaller plastic ones.

I used to keep some plastic bags to use for doggie doo, but starting today I am going to order some biodegradable poo bags online and use those instead. And when my supply of kitchen garbage bags runs out I am going to buy biodegradable garbage bags too. I found this website:

ecosafe plastics

that sells some bags and I'm sure Whole Foods has options as well. I'll look into it and let you know.

Also - check out these websites that have biodegrable utensils and tableware. Some are made from corn or potato starch!:

branch

and

the green office

1 comments:

  1. amyh said...

    Thanks for the sites on biodegradable plastic. I'll check those out.