Posted on 01/26/2008 11:53:56 AM PST by JACKRUSSELL
Eradicating those unsightly plastic bags that hang in trees and clog landfills may not be in the bag just yet but the idea is reaching a fever pitch in Canada and around the world.
On Tuesday, Whole Foods Market, the world's largest natural-food retailer, announced it would stop giving out disposable plastic bags at the checkout counters. All of the retailer's 270 U.S., Canadian and U.K. stores aim to be free of bags by Earth Day on April 22 of this year. And earlier this month China launched a countrywide ban barring shop owners to hand out single-use bags.
Slowly ideas are changing about the need for plastic bags. But could they go the way of the VCR or at the very least become taboo like cigarettes?
"There is a shift in perception," says Tracey Saxby, a 30-year-old environmentalist who lives half of the year in Rossland, B.C., and the other half in Whistler, B.C. "We just don't need them."
Saxby, an Australian native, was one of the first people in North America to champion a ban in her adopted home of Rossland.
About 10 years ago, the budding environmentalist worked in a retail store in Australia, where incidentally the federal environment minister is currently seeking to ban all ultra-thin plastic bags by the end of the year.
She said she would question why she had to give customers a bag even for the tiniest item. It was then on a trip to Coles Bay in Tasmania that she became really passionate about doing something about the problem.
"It was really cool what was happening there because it's such a tourist attraction and all of these thousands of tourists who came to see the national park were also witnessing a town without plastic bags and really seeing it work, she said by phone from her family home in Brisbane.
The village of Coles Bay, which attracts about 25,000 tourists a year, became the first community in Australia to ban the bags in 2003. The move was copied by dozens more communities in Australia and across the globe.
So Saxby brought the idea home. She took the idea to city council last year in Rossland.
"I said Rossland, let's do this and the whole town got excited," she said. "There was an overwhelming fervour."
The town vied to be the first town in North America to go bag free, but that honour landed in the lap of the small community of Leaf Rapids, Man., on April 2, 2007. With just over 500 residents, city officials handed out more than 5,000 free cloth bags. Leaf Rapids is about 980 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
San Francisco became the first U.S. city to adopt a ban in March after efforts to impose a tax failed, while New Jersey is seeking to be the first state to phase out bags after government implemented a bill in November.
Large global cities are also jumping on board. London's 33 municipal authorities are pushing for an outright ban on plastic bags, and city council in New York trying to pass laws to bar the so-called white pollution.
"It's happening everywhere now," says Saxby, "Vancouver, Toronto, Whistler - all these places are looking at options and are committed to reducing or eliminating them. Reusable bags are everywhere."
The idea is gaining worldwide momentum. There are now restrictions or bans in Ireland, Taiwan, Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar and South Africa, among others.
The chief administrator in Leaf Rapids, Martin Van Osch, says the whole community is willing to use the cloth bags to do their shopping. Local businesses could be fined $1,000 for ignoring the ban, but no fines have been levied.
"It's a good thing because people are learning that plastic bags are not free. There's a price," says Saxby.
It's estimated that plastic bags take about 1,000 years to break-down in the environment.
The tricky part of the equation for many Canadians is the perennial question: plastic or paper? But environmentalists say using paper isn't the answer either. Opponents say they use too many trees, create more greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing and take up more space in landfills.
Environmentalists argue that consumers must look at other options.
"We wouldn't oppose a ban, but we currently propose a tax," said the leader of Canada's national Green Party Elizabeth May, noting a federal ban is highly unlikely in Canada.
"We need to convince consumers that, on so many levels, these are not essential products," she says. "It's a created false need."
Saxby agrees. "It was only in the '70s that we even started to use these plastic bags."
Tips to reduce plastic bag use:
Buy cloth shopping bags available at most grocery stores.
If you are only buying a couple of items, consider carrying them.
Consolidate purchases into one bag.
Place fruit and veggies directly into your basket.
Purchase lightweight mesh or cotton fruit and veggie bags to use for little things like peas or beans.
Avoid double bagging.
If an item already has a handle don't put it in another bag.
Ask the store for produce boxes that you can re-use and then recycle.
On a bike? Take a back-pack with you.
What can I use as a garbage bag?
Compost organic material. Recycle as much as possible. Rinse your bin and reuse.
Re-use newspaper to line your garbage bin: Save a few sheets of newspaper each week to wrap your rubbish or line your garbage bin. This helps minimize mess and is a good alternative to plastic garbage bin liners.
Purchase biodegradable bags. While biodegradable bags are not the solution (we need to reduce our waste first!) they are a compromise if you feel you do need to line your bin.
What can I use to pick up dog poop?
Re-use plastic bags that you get as packaging. For example, bread bags, or paper mushroom bags.
Buy a dog-composting unit that you can install in a corner of your yard.
Ask your local pet store to order a dog composting unit for you.
“I can get upset about the loss of a lot of choices but the paper or plastic issue just isn’t one of them.”
I get pissed about people telling me how to live my down down to the nit-noid detail like this.
I also tire of our politicians wasting time on stuff like this.
The use of paper bags will raise business costs in retail stores. With plastic, they stock the checkout areas once a day. With bags, it will be every few hours. More stockboys needed. Trucking - the same number of plastic bags in 1 tractor trailer would take roughly 5 similar trucks hauling new paper bags. Someone will have to pay the freight. Plastic bags are recyclable to make into new bags. Lastly, the same people fighting paper bags are the ones who cant be found without a designer bottle of water, plastic of course, in hand.
When the environmental wackos went after styrofoam cups a few years ago, it was pointed out that the production of “biodegradable” paper cups used more energy and resources.
A large number of chains still require it, however. And that is beyond their contract. It is part of the anti-fraud initiative.
Miserable bastards.
... and where do I get them? Because I don't subscribe to anything papery like that and I signed off on the junk mail, so I don't get a lot of that, either. At least not enough to line the trash bin.
I will admit to using those cloth bags at the store. I do like that they don't use any further resources, but I especially like that most store will take 5 cents off for every one I bring in. Since I sew, I made most of them myself. So I can knock 50 cents or a dollar off every grocery bill, which isn't a lot but probably runs to 25 dollars or so a year. Which is the best part.
Target and Wal*Mart are working on it:
http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/2007/08/target-stores-r.html
If it works anything like the way Wal*Mart has pushed fluorescent bulbs, expect a huge difference, because what Wal*Mart wants, Wal*Mart gets.
I reuse plastic grocery bags for cleaning out the catbox and carrying my lunch to work. How about I give you whatever plastic bags I have left over, since you seem to know better than I what to do about them.
I’m with you. I made some of mine, but either way (my design or theirs) the handles are wide and comfortable, and I never feel like I’m going to cut through my hand, like I did with the plastic bags.
If they get dirty, I put them in the wash with other things, so they never need their “own” wash. They hang to dry.
And you do get a 5 cent discount at a lot of stores for each one, so that is nice, too. The few plastic bags I get usually go to the public library where people take them for their books.
I got three huge reusable bags at Ikea on vacation last year - they are blue & made of woven plastic-y stuff. Purina is now making cat food bags out of the same stuff - it is like heavy duty plastic, but woven. Yet somehow watertight. I’m going to use it to line some of the bags I have already for frozen foods and milk.
My parents grew up very poor during the Depression and being wasteful wasn’t an option. They passed that along to us. Now, I try to do as much as I can.
My dogs stay outside. Nevermind!
LOL!
Tell Circuit City. I lost my ID and they would NOT let me use my credit card yesterday and they don’t have debit as an option either.
“A large number of chains still require it, however. And that is beyond their contract. It is part of the anti-fraud initiative.”
“Tell Circuit City. I lost my ID and they would NOT let me use my credit card yesterday and they don’t have debit as an option either.”
Circuit City is perhaps the worst offender, from what I understand. Still there are many places that attempt to require an ID with use of a signed credit card. I merely point out to the store manager that they are violating the terms that they agreed to with the credit card companies. Most managers have no idea what’s in the contract and some have offered to get a copy in order to prove me wrong. Of course once they get their copy of the contract they see that they are wrong. I’ve never had to leave a store without my purchases, but I don’t shop at Circuit City.
MasterCard makes it easy to file a complaint via their website. With Visa you need to call Visa and/or the card issuing bank with the complaint. Penalties for violating the contract range from fines to loss of ability to take credit cards.
Also, FYI, it is forbidden for merchants to require a minimum purchase with use a credit card or adding a credit card surcharge to your purchase.
yup, I agree, they truly have to have a mental problem to want to be this involved with other peoples business.
This will really be a boost to the logging industry. (sarcasm)
Somebody please- If I'm ever seen in public shouting "Ban the bag! Ban the bag!" - put me out of my misery.
How bout if you just stop cleaning up after the dog? Isn't that mostly the same effect without having to buy something?
ONE-SQUARE-OF-TP-FOR-THEE BUMP
“What are we going to pick the dog’s poop with then?”
I might train mine to crap in the neighbors yard and not worry about it.
The neighbors a dim, so it’s a win-win. ;>)
Who the heck picks up dog poop? Big city people are nuts. As for plastic grocery sacks...I need them. That’s what I use to put my garbage in.
Uh, why are you shopping at a store that sacks your groceries for you? If you were really concerned about saving, you’d go where you sack your own groceries.
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