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.
Lord knows if you can't tax it, then ban it!
I like the paper bags better. Now with plastic, all my grocies just slides around the car on the way home. But I don’t advocate Banning them.
Why not let it decompose outside like nature intended. My dogs go outside in the backyard and I have never given it a second thought.
So we are back to killing trees?
My dad used to say, “Just put it in a box.” One day a bag boy left and came back with a box.
How about going really "natural" and just let it turn into compost where it falls? Isn't that the most natural thing to do? Do it in the name of the environmentalist whackos ;-).
When I have to bag my own groceries at the store, I usually tripple bag the two liter bottles of soda, and single bad the packages of meat so they don’t bleed.
I use paper bags to bag up my recyclables (glass, plastic) which are then picked up in our town every Monday. The recycling guy throws the stuff in the bag into the bin for those things then throws the paper bag into the bin with the paper (mostly magazines, junk mail).
“How about going really “natural” and just let it turn into compost where it falls?’
Works fine except in the high population density areas. There it tends to stack up
Our local grocery store has those containers of antiseptic wipes near the front entry where you pick up your cart so you can use the wipes if you so choose to disinfect your cart. This came about after a story in the news about how those carts were tested for germs..... which was indeed scary.
Maybe those signs should read ....
DON'T MESS IN TEXAS
I just love people who have two houses but won't allow me freakin' plastic bags to toss my garbage in.
Good. Then collect it all up in a trash can and dump it on the front step of the City Hall in the high population density areas where they're run by the left-wingnuts. Tell them you're doing it in the name of the environment. :-)
Good idea! Those signs should be in Spanish! I could tell you stories............ LOL!
I’m probably going to be the odd (wo)man out here and say ‘It’s about time!’
I hate when they bag my milk, my laundry detergent, my cat litter (all with handles), a bag of potatoes or dog food. I’ve been using reusable bags for years, bought some canvas ones at KMart years ago for about $3 ea. and just bought some others for .99 ea. I still end up with plastic sometimes and we recycle those but I try to avoid them as much as possible.
Europeans have managed for years without plastic bags- they use carryall bags for their shopping. It’s also great in that the bags I have are so big that I can fit $200 worth of food in just a few bags. The big handles make it easy to carry and it’s easy to load and unload in the car. They’re great.
“I’m probably going to be the odd (wo)man out here and say ‘It’s about time!’”
For me the key point is they want to mandate this and take away the choice. Doesn’t our govt have better things to do. And yes I know this story is just about one chain but people are pushing for govt regulations.
“And half the population can’t even remember their ID for the credit card they use...”
No form of ID is required for using a signed credit card. It’s part of the contract consumer’s signed when they took the card and it’s part of the contract merchants signed when they decided to accept credit cards.
Oh geez, you just made me feel old and I’m 41. I still use rags to clean! We have a ‘rag bag’ (old pillowcase) in the laundry room closet, with holey towels or worn sheets, pajama bottoms etc. They’re dust rags, drop cloths, scrubbers, big-spill picker uppers, whatever. And they’re washed and reused over and over again.
The bigger towels and worn blankets get sent to the SPCA down the road since they always need them.
But then again, I think it’s my Yankee thriftiness handed down that makes me do these things. I have dyed curtains to use in other rooms (one set went through 3 reincarnations), freeze that spoonful of leftover veggies for soup, make soup from the turkey carcass and still use 48 cent Ajax to clean the bathroom. Probably what enabled us to buy a home and 3 acres when I was only 25.
I guess but they’ve already taken away the choice of paper or plastic, at least around here. I haven’t seen paper bags in years. I can get upset about the loss of a lot of choices but the paper or plastic issue just isn’t one of them.
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