I don’t know about you, but I hate these damn things and refuse to use them at the store. I often joke with the cashier that when I refuse the bags I’m trying to save plastic trees (most don’t get it), but this is a deadly serious problem. It was a sad post-ironic moment when the plastic bag industry lashed out at environmentally conscious consumers by making this bag design:
It’s what PR watchers call “astroturfing.”
Anyhow, might as well know what you are doing the next time you take one of these guys home with you.
Plastic bags are killing us | Salon News:
The plastic bag is an icon of convenience culture, by some estimates the single most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, numbering in the trillions. They’re made from petroleum or natural gas with all the attendant environmental impacts of harvesting fossil fuels. One recent study found that the inks and colorants used on some bags contain lead, a toxin. Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they’ve been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It’s equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil.
Only 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled worldwide — about 2 percent in the U.S. — and the rest, when discarded, can persist for centuries. They can spend eternity in landfills, but that’s not always the case. “They’re so aerodynamic that even when they’re properly disposed of in a trash can they can still blow away and become litter,” says Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. It’s as litter that plastic bags have the most baleful effect. And we’re not talking about your everyday eyesore.
I didn’t realize about how small of a % of plastic bags can be recycled. One thing I’ve wondered recently is how to encourage companies to make recycled packaging and use recycled bags. Have any idea what the best form of action is? Who the best people are to contact?
Good question and it reminds me of what I forgot to say, which is in Germany, if you don’t bring a bag to the store, you have to buy one. Also, Germans pay more for garbage, so they are encouraged to use less packaging. Consumers who are essentially penalized for buying extra packaging or wasting, end up choosing the path that will simply cost them less. It is a cynical strategy, in a way, but it works. You would be amazed by how waste conscious Germans are. As far as a way to promote these ideas in the US, I really don’t know. It’s hard to change such a “convenience” culture without a crisis, but consider how our attitudes about smoking have changed over the past ten years. Cultural shifts are possible. If you find out, please let me know, and if I learn anything new, I will certainly post about it. Thanks for commenting!
Can you explain the picture? Where is it and why is the entire beach covered in plastic bags?
Sorry, but I posted this so long ago that I don’t remember where the photos is from.