Hot Topic: Plastic Bags

By Kathleen in Plastic Bags

Oct

A Few Statistics

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide, with the US alone burning through 100 billion.¹
Producing 100 billion plastic bags takes 12 million barrels of oil²
Worldwide, 1% of all plastic bags are recycled³
Estimates for the amount of time it takes a typical plastic bag to break down range from 500 to 5,000 years⁴

Bag Quest
It happened in stages: First, I started thinking of plastic bags as more than simply a vehicle for my groceries– it was an extra item. Next, I began to realize how many of them there were, eating up the cabinet space below my sink. From there, I began to politely inform grocery employees that I was “fine with a lot of items in each bag,” at which point the grocer would put twice as many items in a bag, but double-bag it. Then I realized that a local grocer had recycling bins for bags and dropped them off when I could. Now I use our odd variety of canvas bags to complete the shopping task.

I don’t have it down to a science yet; in fact, I often curse my way down aisle ten and have to leave a full cart to retrieve the forgotten canvas bags from my trunk. But people, I can’t tell you how great it feels to be free from the single most prevalent consumer item on earth. Granted, now I’m realizing that plastic bags hold most of my food purchases anyway, but the plastic Kroger bag is officially banned from my life, and it wasn’t even that hard.

I smell a revolution
When it comes to fighting against the plastic bag, there’s a lot of inspiring news out there. As with many pressing issues, local, state or federal policy changes can affect the most widespread change.

In March, 2002, for example, the government of the Republic of Ireland introduced a PlasTax of 15 cents (Euro) per bag, which led to a 90% reduction in citizen use of plastic bags⁵. That initiative has raised the Irish government 3.5 million pounds toward boosting other environmentally friendly initiatives (we hope) and reduced plastic bag giveaways by 277 million in the first three months. The English town of Modbury voted to ban plastic bag use outright in stores after town leaders watched a local villager’s documentary portraying the impact of millions of stray bags on marine life.⁶. Similarly in the U.S., San Francisco is in the process of phasing in a ban on all non-biodegradable bags, eventually prohibiting any stores from distributing them. Additionally, Annapolis, Baltimore, Boston, Portland, Oakland, and Santa Monica are all considering some form of plastic bag ban.²

Easy Action: Reduce
If you have any way of influencing policy decisions in your area about plastic bag use, do it. If you need a more achievable goal, consider taking cloth bags and re-usable produce bags with you to the grocery store in lieu of accepting their plastic bags. (Need cloth or produce bags? One option is http://www.ecobags.com). Many stores will now give you a discount for doing so.

A reality check, though: You will never see the amount of plastic packaging involved in most purchases (unless you’ve worked in retail). Working in a retail store this past year, I have been swimming in plastic product packaging that goes straight to the dumpster. Reducing your stuff-intake (scientific term) in general is the most surefire way to shun non-biodegradable plastic.

Comments

Stephen Said,
Let’s use the bags we have at home and not buy more products such as expensive canvas bags from ecobags - that just produces more waste in the future. Instead, I like to bring bags I have around the house: luggage, messenger, purses…I have no shame. If I forget said bags, then I rummage through the plastic bag recycling bin at the front of most grocery stores. It’s recycling what’s already been produced. Once I bring the groceries home, I either return them on my next trip or use them for waste disposal.

Also, using plastic produce bags is wasteful, isn’t it? A plastic bag for one apple? Not needed.
Deon Said,
I have found that I can teach myself to remember to take in my canvas bags by making my life more difficult when I don’t. I have, on several occasions, gotten to the checkout before remembering. I just ask the clerk to scan the items and return them to the shopping cart. I then spend a few extra minutes when I get to the car placing the items in the canvas bags.
Brooke Said,
While buying groceries today, I came across these bags: http://www.1bagatatime.com/index.php?page=misc&section=home and decided to invest in four. While I’ve taken my own cloth bags to the grocery store before, they are always oddly shaped and often result in the bagger squishing something or other in the process of loading them up. A couple of things about these “1-bag-at-a-time” bags:

1. They are shaped like a paper bag and have a removable reinforcement in the bottom so they are stiff enough to keep their shape. This more conventional shape and size makes it easier to load and not smoosh anything.

2. The bags are made out of polypropylene (plastic #5) and are washable and recyclable.

They are an affordable choice and they partner with grocers who can get their logo printed on the bag and then sell them in their store.

While I’m usually not keen on buying something as a quick fix, I’m happy I bought these bags today.