Happy Earth Day! Now Go Buy Some Canvas Bags & Use Them At The Grocery Store

[orleans]

"Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, who called for an environmental teach-in or Earth Day to be held April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated in the event that it is now observed by more than 500 million people and governments in 184 countries."

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070422/LIFE/704220323


i was getting the groceries out of the trunk of my car when someone walked by and asked me where i got the grocery bags. they were canvas bags holding my groceries. i told her i bought them at the local craft store (3 for $8 and a couple larger ones for $5 each). she told me she saw an oprah show, and that oprah was selling canvas bags for $10 each. ("forget buying them from oprah--go to ______ and pick up some")

TODAY IS EARTH DAY. WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR THE EARTH TODAY?

suggestions:
replace some light bulbs with cfls and then join the DU group at:
http://onebillionbulbs.com/Group/DU
(16 of us have already reduced an estimated 7,000 of co2)

plant a tree

don't drive

don't use the plastic bags. anymore.

stay off the cell phones. (rumor has it that the frequency is a possible reason the bees are disappearing!)

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.

As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.

Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.

According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North to Falklands 51° South .

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


Top Facts - Solutions

In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags.

Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.

http://reusablebags.com/facts.php

and

The answer to the "paper or plastic"? dilemma is: Neither. They're roughly equal in pros and cons. While convenient addictions, they both gobble up natural resources and cause significant pollution.


Issue 1: Energy and natural resources
It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.

ENERGY TO PRODUCE BAG ORIGINALLY (BTUs)
Safeway Plastic Bags: 594 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 2511 BTUs
(Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.)

Of course, most paper comes from tree pulp, so the impact of paper bag production on forests is enormous. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone. Paper bag production delivers a global warming double-whammy forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) have to be cut down, and then the subsequent manufacturing of bags produces greenhouse gases.

Issue 2: Pollution
The majority of kraft paper is made by heating wood chips under pressure at high temperatures in a chemical solution. As evidenced by the unmistakable stench commonly associated with paper mills, the use of these toxic chemicals contributes to both air pollution, such as acid rain, and water pollution. Millions of gallons of these chemicals pour into our waterways each year; the toxicity of the chemicals is long-term and settles into the sediments, working its way through the food chain. Further toxicity is generated as both plastic and paper bags degrade.

POLLUTANTS PAPER V.S. PLASTIC
Paper sacks generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
Source: "Comparison of the Effects on the Environment of Polyethylene and Paper Carrier Bags," Federal Office of the Environment, August 1988

Issue 3: Recycling
It takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. But recycling rates of either type of disposable bag are extremely low, with only 10 to 15% of paper bags and 1 to 3% of plastic bags being recycled, according to the Wall Street Journal.

ENERGY TO RECYCLE PACKAGE ONCE (BTUs)
Safeway Plastic Bags: 17 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 1444 BTUs
Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.

Although paper bags have a higher recycling rate than plastic, each new paper grocery bag you use is made from mostly virgin pulp for better strength and elasticity.

Issue 4: Degradability
Current research demonstrates that paper in today's landfills does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills because of the lack of water, light, oxygen and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed. A paper bags takes up more space than a plastic bag in a landfill, but because paper is recycled at a higher rate, saving space in landfills is less of an issue.

At the end of the day using reusable bags and containers are the real answer!
http://reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

so what are you doing today to celebrate?

[magellan]

1. Indeed! We use these for grocery shopping:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!2155

Yes, they're from the UK. But I've had two since the mid-90s and they're still going strong. We just got two more. The new ones are even better; you get two, one with a zip-close cooler space built in to keep your frozen foods chilly. They have strong wooden handles and are roomy. Haven't found anything like them in the US. The grocery packers at our supermarket always ask us where we got them, they're so much better than the canvas bags.

On the CFL front, I've been gifting neighbors who haven't tried them yet with a 100-watt equivalent when I can in hopes of turning people on to them. Every little....

[orleans]

3. i've been doing the same thing with the cfls

and i've pretty much decided what my friends will be getting for christmas this year (four packs of cfls in as many canvas bags as i can afford to hand out--with a little information about the plastic bags--maybe topped off with a little magnet i found on cafe press that says: "save the earth. it's the only planet with chocolate"

yeah...i have an agenda.

[WePurrsevere]

4. I really like your gift idea! Since I can sew well..

I'll sew up a few of the custom canvas bags I've designed for myself (they're a bit larger and stronger using "french seams", etc), add in a few cfl bulbs, one of my recycled art pieces, as well as other "green" things I can come up with and they'll be great gifts to give to family and friends! Depending on the time of year a gift needs to be given I could tuck in some seeds or saplings as well. :)

Except for two older "can" light fixtures (which we'll be switching out this Summer I hope) and a ceiling fan light (which takes those small base type bulbs (which I think are now available as cfls online) our house is lit by Mother Nature and cfls. We got into buying them when they came in two parts and you could only use them in (some) ordinary lamps first came out but the new ones are so much better and a whole lot less expensive. My DH is a big and long time fan of LEDS so as soon as they become less expensive and available in more sizes we'll probably switch to those.

Anyway.. .thanks for the inspiration. :thumbsup: Now you have my imagination chugging on a new idea... (like I need more. :D)

[CrispyQ]

25. ...the only planet with chocolate.

:rofl:


The Earth Day Every Day reminded me of this Bill Maher column:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/the-birds-the-bees-and-_b_46410.html

snip...

New Rule: From now on Earth Day really must be a year round thing. And in honor of this Earth Day, starting Monday supermarket clerks must stop putting the big bottle of detergent with a handle on it in a plastic bag. I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but you see that handle you just lifted the detergent with?

[orleans]

36. yes, that was good (the maher clip). someone posted it in the

political videos forum.

[wildhorses]

2. yep!!

:patriot:

[MadHound]

5. Everyday is Earthday,

And thus you should always finding something to do to lessen your footprint on this Earth.

[cgrindley]

6. It's like putting a bandaid on a stump

At the end of the day, a global ban on privately owned internal combustion vehicles, the complete end of coal fired power plants, the utter elimination of the entire petrochemical industry, the mass relocation of population, the end of commercial fishing, the old growth forestry, and the supression of industry in the developing world is the real answer.


PS My canvas Barneys bag was made in China. I bought it on sale for 10 bucks, marked down from 40. I had to drive to the outlet mall in Clinton, CT to get such a great price (20 miles from here).

PPS I had to earn the money required to buy that bag, drive to the mall, and drive my car. To earn that money, I had to attack the environment in a number of other ways including a commute to NYC.

PPPS I wonder who made my reusable canvas bag. I bet it was either children or criminals.

PPPPS I wonder how my canvas bag got from China to the US. Perhaps it walked over?

[uppityperson]

12. If I could recommend a post today, so far it would be yours.

[Duppers]

27. so

what are we to do? nothing? just give up?

[cgrindley]

39. Either that or the unthhinkable

so I'm figuring that we'll probably wash out tuna fish tins and tell each other we're doing our part right up until it's even more glaringly obvious that the world is utterly fucked.

[Reterr]

29. I have yet to see you actual support any personal sacrifice towards this end

One of the very worst attitudes in the world is to wait for others to be the change you could be (to paraphrase), but its a convenient excuse to avoid doing anything yourself certainly.

[cgrindley]

38. I don't support any personal sacrifice even a little

The culprits are massive industries, electrical generation, outright industrialization of the developing world.

No amount of washing out tuna fish tins is going to stop China from burning shitty coal to light Cheng Du.

Personal sacrifice is entirely symbolic and entirely useless. It's the equivalent of quitting smoking after you're diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer.

[Leopolds Ghost]

66. Wait, you're the one who refuses to take the train into Manhattan, right?

Yeah, you "had" to drive to an outlet mall 20 miles away to purchase a simple canvas bag. I guess that's how things are in CT.

And if you have no problem with outsourcing, you should have no problem buying a bag made in China.

As for the negative environmental consequences of plastic in our biosphere, haven't you seen anything from National Geographic? Have you read the surveys of billions of individual pieces of plastic rubbish (roughly one per square foot throughout the ocean) as it moves around the Pacific Gyre? Have you seen the footage of the 2 tons of trash that is collected daily at the mouth of the Los Angeles river?

[coffeenap]

7. How about no bags? If you drive to the store, just take the items

to your trunk in the cart. Hold your recipt in plain sight, just in case.(You know how if you shop at Costco.) Unless you have a long way to walk from car to house, just make several trips directly to your cabinets and refrigerator. Voila! No waste and more exercise, plus, everything goes where it belongs right away.

I do this at my mainstream grocery store and it never fails to elicit questions and then, "hey, that is a good idea"!

[Critters2]

61. I've started doing this, too. nt

[Leopolds Ghost]

67. How about walk or bike to the grocery store? You need plastic or canvas for that.

I'm amazed by the number of people who won't walk or bike 1/2 mile to the grocery store to pick up 3 bags of groceries.

[Ino]

8. This bag sounds very interesting!

http://tinyurl.com/26ogq2

My next favorite bag, which I don't own, comes from Earth Designs in Maplewood (a suburb of St. Louis, MO). The company is called 1 Bag at a Time and was founded by a Los Angeles environmentalist who uses 100 percent recycled polypropylene (that's plastic bags for the liberal arts majors). Each tote uses the petroleum from 11 plastic bags and can hold the load of up to four plastic bags. The product is machine washable. If each bag were used for one shopping trip a week, it would replace more than 400 plastic bags over its two-plus years lifetime, its maker says. The bag sells for $3.50 (or get it free if you spend $50 at Earth Designs).

[JCMach1]

9. Why not put a 5, or 10cent deposit on plastic bags to encourage

bring your own...

When they wear out, you can exchange for new ones, or recycle...

[orleans]

10. and

"5. Get stores to offer cash credits if you bring in your own bags. "
http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=3

[Cha]

11. Our co-op takes a nickle off

if we bring our own bags. More and more people are doing it now..very encouraging.

[kath]

32. This is what they do in some European countries.

[uppityperson]

13. NOT driving anywhere. Even to EarthDay festivities.

I am NOT driving to the store to buy food shipped in from all over and packaged in multilevel packages and then put into any sort of bag.
I am NOT having my lights on, even if they are CFs.
I am NOT spending the day on my computer or shopping even online for a new one.
I am NOT driving anywhere, even to EarthDay festivities. If I decide to go, I will bike.
I am NOT buying anything to celebrate EarthDay since Everyday is EarthDay.
I am NOT trying to be superior, just posting nots.

Peace.

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Paper sacks can make more then one trip to the market before tossing, too.

I'm just saying.

[orleans]

16. check this out:

Issue 1: Energy and natural resources
It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.

ENERGY TO PRODUCE BAG ORIGINALLY (BTUs)
Safeway Plastic Bags: 594 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 2511 BTUs
(Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.)

Of course, most paper comes from tree pulp, so the impact of paper bag production on forests is enormous. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone. Paper bag production delivers a global warming double-whammy forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) have to be cut down, and then the subsequent manufacturing of bags produces greenhouse gases.

Issue 2: Pollution
The majority of kraft paper is made by heating wood chips under pressure at high temperatures in a chemical solution. As evidenced by the unmistakable stench commonly associated with paper mills, the use of these toxic chemicals contributes to both air pollution, such as acid rain, and water pollution. Millions of gallons of these chemicals pour into our waterways each year; the toxicity of the chemicals is long-term and settles into the sediments, working its way through the food chain. Further toxicity is generated as both plastic and paper bags degrade.

POLLUTANTS PAPER V.S. PLASTIC
Paper sacks generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
Source: "Comparison of the Effects on the Environment of Polyethylene and Paper Carrier Bags," Federal Office of the Environment, August 1988

Issue 3: Recycling
It takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. But recycling rates of either type of disposable bag are extremely low, with only 10 to 15% of paper bags and 1 to 3% of plastic bags being recycled, according to the Wall Street Journal.

ENERGY TO RECYCLE PACKAGE ONCE (BTUs)
Safeway Plastic Bags: 17 BTUs
Safeway Paper Bags: 1444 BTUs
Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.

Although paper bags have a higher recycling rate than plastic, each new paper grocery bag you use is made from mostly virgin pulp for better strength and elasticity.

Issue 4: Degradability
Current research demonstrates that paper in today's landfills does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills because of the lack of water, light, oxygen and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed. A paper bags takes up more space than a plastic bag in a landfill, but because paper is recycled at a higher rate, saving space in landfills is less of an issue.

At the end of the day using reusable bags and containers are the real answer!
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

[Left Is Write]

15. The best canvas totes in the world:

http://tinyurl.com/mqku9

They are super durable, easy to carry, roomy and perfect for everything, including groceries. I use at least one LLBean tote every day.

[orleans]

18. (nice totes--a bit too pricey for this struggling creative type) n/t

[Left Is Write]

20. True - they are a little expensive, but they'll last forever.

[AZBlue]

17. And, if you do have plastic bags, recyle them at a local grocery store.

Most grocery stores will recycle them - so take the ones you currently have there!

And then go out and buy a canvas bag!

Orleans - thank you for this post

[Raksha]

19. Just bought two of 'em when I was at the store earlier today.

I'm planning to have 10-20 total, enough for a big shopping trip. I'm sick of those cheap plastic bags anyway.

[SoCalDem]

21. We use cardboard boxes which we keep in the car trunk

easy to pack and carry..and infinitely re-useable:)

[Leopolds Ghost]

68. Shoppers Food Warehouse AND our local "vegetarian" co-op BOTH stopped providing pick-your-own boxes

At the checkout counter in lieu of bags.

Hows that for moving in the wrong direction? (And these are the local enviros... thinking improved recycling technology and hybrid cars meant they could simply drive more and start wasting bags again, for no good reason.)

[Nutmegger]

22. 5th R for you orleans.

:kick::thumbsup::applause:

:hi:

[orleans]

30. (thanks nutmegger!) (smile) n/t

[Gregorian]

23. Every day is earth day.

I honestly don't get the hype over this one stinking day.

Forgive me for being so poignant about this. I don't think earth day is worth a crap.

[CrispyQ]

24. I walked to the store to get my Earth Day beer & treats,

...and of course, I took my own canvas bag!

We purchased 3 bags about 5 years ago & use them all the time. Recently a new health food store opened & offered a free bag with a purchase of $50 or more. My sister found 2 at a thrift shop & gave them to me. (Nice of her to think of me, but I wish she would use them!) After putting groceries away, I fold the bags & set them under my car keys. Next time I go out, the bags go to the car. I haven't gotten a plastic bag in years!

[Kat45]

26. The supermarket was selling the energy saving light bulbs for a dollar each

And when you bought 10 lightbulbs, which I did, you got 3 reusable shopping bags free. (This was at Stop & Shop.) Home Depot was giving out those lightbulbs free, while supplies last.

Did the success of "An Inconvenient Truth" and Al Gore's activism have anything to do with companies jumping on the Earth Day bandwagon this year?

[nam78_two]

28. K&R.nt

[Duppers]

31. Environmental tip: cut down on use of chemicals

National Geographic Society's Green Guide: http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports/

and a Canadian Guide to Less Toxic Products:

http://www.lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=household#laun



“Chemicals have replaced bacteria and viruses as the main threat to health. The diseases we are beginning to see as the major causes of death in the latter part of (the 1900's) and into the 21st century are diseases of chemical origin.”
Dr. Dick Irwin, Toxicologist, Texas A&M University

[Nicole]

33. Free tote bag pattern for those who sew

http://imgred.com/

This bag is simple to make.

http://www.make-it-easy.com/opentot2.html

[alphafemale]

71. Thanks. I was thinking about looking for something like this.

I sewn off and on for a few years, and am left with many remnants that would work great for these totes.

[dysfunctional press]

34. when you get rid of your car, i'll stop using plastic bags.

deal?

[orleans]

35. then don't stop using plastic bags. thank god not everyone has such a negative attitude

[dysfunctional press]

42. what i'm saying is that my plastic bags do A LOT less harm your auto...

why should you be trying to make people feel bad about using plastic bags, when your car is a much bigger threat...? it just seems a bit, well...quite a bit hypocritical is all.

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. Because it is easier by orders of magnitude

to bring a couple of canvas bags to the store than it is to restructure the fucking transportation system? Hmmmm.

But this really says it all: "why should you be trying to make people feel bad..."

Yeah, this issue is all about your personal fucking feelings.

[dysfunctional press]

46. and the damage done by autos is worse by orders of magnitude...

than that done by plastic grocery bags.

and it MUST be about somebody's personal feelings- because that's all the canvas bag thing really is- a "feelgood" NON-solution to the climate change problem.
if people were REALLY concerned about the planet, they'd learn to get by with A LOT less car usage, rather than a lot less plastic shopping bag usage.

[alcibiades_mystery]

47. Making the perfect the enemy of the good

Because we can't do everything, we shouldn't do anything. (Which is to say, anything that is inconvenient)

The lovely philosophy of the irretrievably selfish.

I manage to reduce car use AND plastic use AND grocery packaging use! I must be a goddamn genius to do more than one thing at a time. Holy crap! It's not an either/or. People can try to do what they can. Wow.

And yes, it is a personal issue, to the extent that personal actions add up, in the aggregate. But that would mean giving a fuck about something other than your poor hurt feelings.

[dysfunctional press]

50. no- i'm saying that we can and SHOULD do more.

your post is EXACTLY why we're going to lose the battle with climate change- people REFUSE to face up to the enormity of the issue, especially when it might affect the level of convenience the enjoy in their lives.

[alcibiades_mystery]

54. Now I'm certain that we're talking past each other

If that's what you got from my post.

Salud.

[orleans]

48. i know exactly what you're saying

and while i understand there are people who are simply too broke to be buying canvas bags, do you understand that there are some people who need a car (for various reasons such as what they do to support themselves & their family--not everyone can take public transit to work because not everyone goes to a single job location each day; for physical reasons--not everyone is able to walk to the store or ride a bike)

(but why should i have to explain this to anyone?)

your post sounds like you don't use a car. if that's the case then i would say you are definitely doing your part environmentally. i don't have the luxury to give up my car, so i do what i can in other ways. and i try to encourage others to do the same.

[dysfunctional press]

49. no, you CHOOSE not to give up your car...

because it's more importnat to you than the ultimate future of this planet.
multiply this by the number of people on the roads- and you'll understand why there's a problem.
nobody NEEDS their car- generations upon generations survived without them.
BUT- they make our lives much more convenient- so much so that we feel we can't live without them.

but we can, we have, and we very may well have to again very soon.

[orleans]

56. good idea--beat the crap out of people who are at least concerned

and trying to make a difference. berate them. make them feel like shit. insult them for the changes they are making. humiliate them. take all your frustrations out on them. really give them incentive to do more.
good job! nicely done. give yourself a pat on the back.
and don't move to san francisco--i don't think your attitude would be too welcome:

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- 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.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/27/environment.baggs.reut/index.html

what are you going to do when daley follows san fran's lead? move to the burbs? (look out! you might need a car out here)

[Leopolds Ghost]

69. I don't own a car. Which means I tend to need plastic bags

Because they are recyclable at any grocery store (outside of the New York metropolitan area, where no one seem to have never heard of recycling plastic bags) and you need something for carrying groceries on a bike...

My local grocery store and hardware store finally started selling those pushcarts for buying groceries on foot, without a car. Nobody in my town had ever heard of them, apparently.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

37. Another suggestion: collapsible crates

I first saw these when my mother brought them back from Europe. It took me forever to find these online, but, the right search words made the difference. There are several suppliers ad some even offer ones with wheels, for those who walk to the store.Just do a search for "collapsible crates". They come in different strengths and sizes to fit your needs. They also make it faster and easier to carry in those groceries. You might have to tell the baggers to not put them in the plastic bags and then into the crate! :eyes:

Here's one source I've found that seems really affordable.:

collapsible crates from Brylane


Want to know what really made Germany change with consumption? They are charged per pound for their garbage. So, their pocketbook dictated that they needed to reduce, reuse and recycle. When the consumers demand less packaging and more recyclable materials, then the producers must take heed and act accordingly. Just a thought.

[phylny]

52. These are great, and the price is right, thanks!

What I like about them is that you can wash them. I have often thought about getting a reusable tote for groceries, but many of them don't appear to be washable, which I think is necessary when you consider some of the food that might leak onto them.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

59. And they lay flat on the bottom of the shopping cart

In England they have these really cool heavy duty plastic bag-like crates. They actually clip onto the shopping cart to be filled! Man, I wish we could get more innovative solutions in this country too!

[marions ghost]

40. We need to do what Ireland did ...

You can't just ask everyone not to use plastic bags that are handed out at every store. Only a small percentage of the American population cares enough to use canvas bags, although of course every little bit helps. But disposable bag use needs to be discouraged on a wide scale to have any real impact.

In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

[marions ghost]

41. and what about

plastic garbage bags? Aren't they just as bad? I don't know of anyone who doesn't use those. They certainly do make handling any kind of garbage a lot nicer.

Is there a source for biodegradable trash bags that you know of?

[orleans]

57. i recently bought a box of seventh generation plastic trash bags

they are made mostly from recycled plastic

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/our_products/supplies.php

it's the best thing i've been able to find so far (haven't had the chance to try them yet)

[Leopolds Ghost]

70. They are cheap, but small and crappy, they need to increase the amount of plastic

Ironically.

After all, most of it isn't getting recycled, so if they increased the ply strength on their 100% recycled bags they'd be increasing the demand for recycled plastic, right?

[lonestarnot]

43. I have 3 that say

War is costly, empty boots and other side
peace is priceless.
The grocery baggers like them!

[Roland99]

45. Can't rec but I can certainly kick!

I took my daughter to the Zoo and got our annual membership there. Place was PACKED and our zoo isn't really all that great. Plenty were out for the Earth Day party.

Later that evening my daughter and I walked up to the grocery (left the car parked) but thanks for the reminder on foregoing plastic bags. I have a tote bag I could use along with a backpack for when I need to get more than a few items. Time to start making use of them!!

[Beaverhausen]

51. I love my canvas bags

[knitter4democracy]

53. Done and done.

Now if I could just remember to take them into all stores . . .

[irish.lambchop]

55. I use canvas bags

when grocery shopping. I spend half the year in Ireland and if you request bags at the markets there, they charge you for same - something I think should be implemented here.

[orleans]

58. i agree--people need to start being charged for the bags.

unfortunately money seems to be more of an incentive rather than for people to simply to the right thing.

when i read that ireland was charging per bag i thought: brilliant!

btw--welcome to du, irish.lambchop

[irish.lambchop]

62. Brilliant! Yes indeed!

There are also recycle centers throughout Ireland - none of this special pick-up thing like here and people actually make the trip to recycle - glass bottles, paper products, plastic, etc. Amazing to see people participating even when we would consider it 'inconvenient'.

[Generator]

60. Thanks I just ordered some

I can't stop the fascists but I can stop the plastic bags which are not only rotten to the environment and wildlife but are ugly and annoying.

NOW the habit to always have them in the car when I'm out. It's a habit I suppose just like recycling which I have done for twenty years. I wouldn't think of throwing out cans or glass or paper so it's the same mindset. It might take awhile but finally it's time to do it!

[orleans]

64. it is a bit of a mindset--remembering to use the canvas bags.

i've come back in the house to get them...i'm just glad i never made it to the store before remembering.

you get the hang of it pretty easy though.

thanks for taking the incentive!

[RiverStone]

63. Thank You - I will bag it (not in plastic) from now on! n/t

[Dastard Stepchild]

65. Can anyone suggest cheap, enviro-friendly doggie crap bags?

I have seen the biodegradables at the store, but they are kinda pricey. Anyone have some suggestions? We use the plastic bags at the store so that we can then use them when we walk the dog, but it's not an ideal situation. I'd like to find an alternative solution.

[JCMach1]

72. I will get smacked to suggest this: is having a dog in a city sustainable living?

If you truly want to practice green?

As much as we would like a dog, we don't keep one because we live in a villa that does not provide for the space needs of a dog... We could probably finesse a small one, but heat is a problem here and also long vacations during summer... :(