The Season of Giving--On the Cheap

Tis the season to remember our families and dear friends. Tis also the season that has seen our IRAs plummet, our house worth half as much, and our jobs hang in the wind. Well, tis also time to realize that caring doesn’t have to carry a hefty price tag. And the gifts we give should be environmentally responsible. Nothing says landfill like a bunch of cheap pricey toys that break within days after Christmas.

Low-cost gifts that tell people how much we care:
· My best friend made me two denim shopping bags with stenciled flowers that I will use over and over, without advertising a merchant; and her home baked pecan pie tartlets are to die for.
· My adult nieces and nephews all received string shopping bags from a company that donates a portion of their proceeds to ecological preservations; and homemade cookies from me. (These professional folks don’t bake.)
· The little kids each got a golden book. I bought two compendiums from Amazon and divied up the books among all the tots. They each have something to open, and some quality time sessions with their parents, who will read to them. Cost per book: minimal. Impact on a delighted child: substantial.
· Last year, I bought inexpensive attractive glass cookie jars and hired my friend to stencil their names onto them, and of course, filled them with cookies.

Other ideas for greatly appreciated gifts:
· An attractive coupon book for chores for beleaguered young parents to include errands run, babysitting, doing laundry, walking the dogs, etc.
· For aging relatives who want to keep in touch: a box of return address labels, stamps, and stationery, or even postcards or box of assorted greeting cards
· Personalized anything: cookie jars, tote bags, stationery, apron, oven mitts
· A coupon for a special “just us” outing for a grandchild or child, redeemable (with advance notice) when he or she chooses
· A written promise (with a start date) to be a twice-a-week exercise partner for a friend having trouble keeping active

The idea is to be creative and come up with low-cost gifts that are truly personalized to the individual. With our declining pocketbooks to urge us on, and our desire to be better world and planet citizens, we can become more creative about showing our caring for loved ones. And if the economy improves, even shoots back up, perhaps our gift-giving should not. Instead of having to pay those credit card bills from holiday excesses, we can have money left in our accounts to spend more on the things that matter more in the long run:
· Travel to learn more about other peoples, increase our tolerance for other religions and cultures, and make our children more world-embracing citizens. Erasing the specter of the Ugly American? Priceless!
· Charitable giving to organizations that promote healthy environments and self-reliance through training, basic necessities, and example.
· Upgrading our homes and cars to be more energy efficient and lower maintenance

Changing Consumer Habits

It seems trying to do what’s right for the environment ruffles the feathers—and pocketbooks—of pollution producers. For example, the American Chemistry Council has reported spending $180,625 in August to fight a 20-cent fee on paper and plastic bags that was approved by the Seattle City Council in July.

Most of the money was likely used for signature gathering in an effort to put the issue on a future citywide ballot. The Coalition to Stop the Seattle bag Tax has turned in about 22,000 signatures. That averages out to about $8 per signature. For the $8 spent per signature, the ACC could have bought every person who signed the petition a high quality reusable bag!

The reason for doing this goes far beyond preventing plastic bag litter at home. A United Kingdom news investigation revealed that plastic packaging and bottles that consumers believe are going to local recycling plants are ending up buried in India. A British reporter traveled to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and discovered wells of British-branded rubbish, estimated to be around 30 feet deep...Concerned locals told the investigation that there were at least ten such waste wells and that the pits also contained American waste. It’s an inconvenient truth that many items entering the recycling stream don’t get recycled. We’re seeing increasing evidence of recyclables getting burned or buried in landfills -- or shipped overseas. Recycling has its place in reducing waste -- but it’s no silver bullet. The economics are really not there for recycling plastic bags, as you’ve seen in earlier blogs.

Many bags collected for recycling never get recycled. A growing trend is to ship them to Third world countries like India and China which are rapidly becoming the dumping grounds for the Western world's glut of recyclables. Rather than being recycled they are cheaply incinerated under more lax environmental laws. And think about the other things you dispose of: such as plastic cutlery and plates. What do you think happens to them?

The French have had it with plastic waste. Their environment minister confirmed a new program, the "taxe pique-nique", that starting next year will result in a tax of 90 cents per kilogram (2.2 lbs) will be placed on plastic and paper throwaway cups from next year, aimed at cutting the average 360kg (793 lbs) of rubbish generated per person per year in France.

A raft of other "green" taxes may also be imposed, including on batteries, televisions, washing machines and fridges, with tax breaks offered for more environmentally friendly alternatives. Of course, it has its detractors. But the main opposition Socialist party rounded on the measure as a bourgeois attack on those French already struggling to meet basic living costs. The government, he said, should instead concentrate on reducing energy consumption in other areas, like public transport.

The French are keen on picnics, often surprisingly gourmet. Some said the tax would not make them change their ways. Others are more supportive, saying if we don’t start cutting back on disposable stuff, we'll never get out of this mess. The tax will affect plastic goblets, knives and forks, and non-biodegradable paper plates and napkins.

The supporters say the tax would help bring down costs on recyclable products. Rather than seen as a tax, it should be viewed as a levy on goods which are heavy generators of rubbish. A near-identical tax was introduced in Belgium last year, where the tax also extends to saran-type wraps and aluminum foil.

Your assignment, if you decide to accept it:
1. Look at all the disposables for which you could substitute reusables. For picnics, could you take regular plastic plates and silverware, wrap them up and take them home to throw in the dishwasher?
2. Research biodegradable disposables (second-best choice) for when reusables really aren’t practical (really impractical)

Take a wider view of our world and how we’re trashing it. Remember, the trash may not end up here at home but will pollute other countries and diminish their quality of life. We need to act like grown-ups and make some tough but responsible decisions.

I've Got Company! Are You With Me?

More and more when I go shopping, there are other people in line also with their own bags. I hope they are also recycling at home. We have become loaded down with garbage. We want less of it. With a little effort, we can decrease landfill impact tremendously. Behavioral scientists tell us it takes three months to make something a habit. Recycling and using reusables are great habits to get into! Here are some great habits to develop:

· Remember to keep cloth bags in every car and to grab one when you walk to a store. It’s pretty hard to carry seven items home loose in your hands, so you tend to go for the plastic with its convenient handles. Grab a cloth bag with longer handles so you can sling it over your shoulder while you walk. Better, yet, wear a backpack and stay balanced.
· Remember that every chipboard carton a product comes in can be flattened and recycled.
· Tear address labels off the umpteen catalogs and travel books we all get and recycle those, as well.
· Take the time to wash out messy jars and bottles. Some can be thrown in the dishwasher. Others just need to sit with hot soapy water in them for a few hours, shaken up and rinsed out. Don’t forget the soap. It acts as a surfactant to reduce surface tension and keep food from sticking so tightly to the container. (Yes, I mean peanut butter, too!)
· Invest in a shredder. That’s the best way to keep sensitive materials, like old bank statements from falling into the hands of identity thieves. Then use the shredded paper to pack breakables for shipping.
· Recycle printer cartridges. Office Depot gives you your choice of a discount off a purchase or a ream of recycled paper for each one you bring in.
· Recycle old batteries, even the AAAs. Hazardous metals can leach out in landfills.
· Go on-line and research recycling centers in your area and your options. Then post their requirements in the kitchen or someplace easily accessible. If you live in an apartment or condo building, share the information with other units. We can pay for curbside recycling, but we have free recycling drop-off locations within a few blocks, so we take it ourselves.
· When you have neighborhood clean-up days and pick up trash, separate it into garbage and recyclables. No reason for cans and bottles to go into a landfill.

You probably have tons of ideas of your own. If you do, please comment on these blogs and I will use your ideas and help you share them. We’re all in this together. Let’s do what we can.

Fighting Special Interests- and the Beat Goes On

Using Ireland’s successful plastic bag tax as a model, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is proposing a 20-cent “green fee” on all disposable bags. The proposed fee is the first of its kind in the nation made by a mayor striving for a legacy of environmental stewardship. If the City Council approves, the fee would go into effect January 1. In an effort to ease the transition, the city will mail one reusable shopping bag to each household.

Plastic bag bans, however, are meeting concentrated and well-financed resistance from petroleum producers and plastic bag manufacturers. Some municipalities considering plastic bag bans have been hit with legal demands for environmental impact statements to justify a ban. Most do not have that kind of money, so they back down from proposing a ban or even a plastic bag surcharge. In their efforts to prevent bans, the plastic bag industry has launched a huge campaign for plastic bag recycling. As you have seen from earlier blogs, the economies are just not there.

EPA data shows that between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Of those, less than 1% are recycled. However, increasing that percentage isn’t a solution. Jared Blumenfelt, Director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment tells it like it is:
There are harsh economics behind bag recycling. It costs $4,000 to process and recycle one ton of plastic bags, which can be sold on the commodities market for $32. Do the math.

Again, we’re faced with special interests corrupting the environment. The bag industry is right that paper bags are not the answer. But their claims that plastic bag bans will create a huge demand for paper bags and cause widespread catastrophic deforestation are unfounded. The solution is and has always been; reusable bags. When someone asks you whether you want plastic or paper, say: “Neither. I brought my own.”

More Considerations on Plastic Bags

Recycling
In this green, recycling aura many of us live in, we can convince ourselves that it’s okay to use those convenient plastic bags and not have to worry about bringing our own bags, because we recycle! There are some grim statistics on that approach:

EPA data shows that between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Of those, less than 1% are recycled. However, increasing that percentage isn’t a solution. Jared Blumenfelt, Director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment tells it like it is:
There are harsh economics behind bag recycling. It costs $4,000 to process and recycle one ton of plastic bags, which can be sold on the commodities market for $32. Do the math.

Sources of Plastic Bag Litter
A study in 1975 showed that oceangoing vessels dumped 8 million pounds of plastic into our seas annually. Since then, ocean dumping is more closely regulated, although much of it still probably occurs. But those plastic bags and other non-degradable plastic litter also gets into the waterways through streams and storm sewers. Plastic bags have been found floating north of the Arctic Circle and as far south as the Falkland Islands.

According to the National Marine Debris Monitoring program, plastic bags account for more than 10% of the debris washed up on U.S. coastlines.

Plastic bags photodegrade over time into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers, according to CNN.com.

The effects on wildlife are catastrophic. Birds become terminally entangled. Nearly 200 different species of sea life, including whales, dolphins, seals, and turtles die due to ingesting plastic bags they mistake for food.

What We Can Do
We can use cloth reusable bags. I cloth bag, taken to every retail establishment visited, can replace:
· 6 bags/week
· 24 bags/month
· 288 bags/year
· 22,176 bags in an average lifetime

If only 1 out of 5 people in our country did this, we would save:

1,330,560,000,000 bags over our lifetime!

What Other Countries and Other Cities are doing
· Countries who have banned or are banning plastic bags: Bangladesh, China, Rwanda, Israel, Canada, Western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africe, Taiwan, Singapore
· Ireland led Europe by taxing plastic bags in 2002 and has reduced consumption by 90%
· In March 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags. Oakland and Boston are considering a ban.

Another Huge Benefit of Banning Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are made from polyethylene, a thermoplastic made from oil. Decreasing plastic bags reduces foreign oil dependence. China will save 37 million barrels of oil each year due to their ban on free plastic bags.

Cut the Plastic!

Ocean Trash

Some people have no qualms about discarding a piece of dental floss, a plastic bag, or whatever non-biodegradable trash they want to get rid of. While it is an eyesore along our highways and byways, when it gets into storm sewers and carried out to sea, it assumes a life of its own. An article in the New York Times highlights how serious this problem is. Below is a section from that article and the link to the article itself.

In 2002, Nature magazine reported that during the 1990s, debris in the waters near Britain doubled; in the Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica the increase was a hundredfold. And depending on where they sample, oceanographers have found that between 60 and 95 percent of today’s marine debris is made of plastic.

Plastic gets into the ocean when people throw it from ships or leave it in the path of an incoming tide, but also when rivers carry it there, or when sewage systems and storm drains overflow. Despite the Ocean Dumping Reform Act, the U.S. still releases more than 850 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm runoff every year, according to a 2004 E.P.A. report. Comb the Manhattan waterfront and you will find, along with the usual windrows of cups, bottles and plastic bags, what the E.P.A. calls “floatables,” those “visible buoyant or semibuoyant solids” that people flush into the waste stream like cotton swabs, condoms, tampon applicators and dental floss.

The Encyclopedia of Coastal Processes, about as somniferously clinical a scientific source on the subject as one can find, predicts that plastic pollution “will incrementally increase through the 21st century,” because “the problems created are chronic and potentially global, rather than acute and local or regional as many would contemplate.” The problems are chronic because, unlike the marine debris of centuries past, commercial plastics do not biodegrade in seawater. Instead, they persist, accumulating over time, much as certain emissions accumulate in the atmosphere. The problems are global because the sources of plastic pollution are far-flung but also because, like emissions riding the winds, pollutants at sea can travel.

For the whole article, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

When a Walk is More Than a Walk

Okay, we’re all busy, but we can still do something worthwhile—make that two things worthwhile. My multi-tasking of choice has always been to combine a good aerobic walk with something else, whether meaningful conversations with my son or spouse or a good friend, practicing a speech, brainstorming a new article, or, in some cases, picking up trash.

We spend five months a year in the pristine high plains of the Colorado Rockies. Semi-pristine would be more accurate, because where there are people, there is trash. Even here where people live for the majestic mountains and fields of wildflowers, there are idiots who think their little bits of trash won’t hurt anything, or probably don’t think at all.

I have a friend who is like-minded and happens to raise llamas. So our multi-tasking consists of going on long walks with pack llamas outfitted with saddlebags. They get training in packing and we have someone to carry the trash we pick up because there is always too much to carry. Two days in a row, we returned with four saddlebags stuffed with ten bags of trash, which we then sorted into recyclables and trash-trash. Climbing in and out of gullies, along with all the reaching, gave us a great workout, and our “neighborhood” looks a lot better.

In the interest of making this translatable into something you might like to do, we’ll subtract the llamas. When you go out for a walk, which you should do often, take used bags with you and pick up the trash. Everywhere has it. Nobody likes to look at it. Since I’m the plastic bag lady, I snag plastic bag litter and then use it to hold other trash I find. Trash is trash. But don’t count on finding bags. Take some with you. Then remember to recycle as much as possible so we can minimize the impact on landfills. We’re out walking anyway. Let’s include the planet in our outings.

Finding Substitutions for Your Old Plastic Bags

While trying to wean ourselves from plastic shopping bags, we come up on some conundrums: What can we do to replace the plastic bags that we recycle for use at home? If we have no plastic bags, what do we use in their place for other purposes? That’s a snag that my kids and I have grappled with.

1. For instance, my son has two large dogs. When they take them for a walk, they take the used plastic bags along to pick up the doggie poop. Without those, they have to buy poop bags, also plastic. What’s the alternative?

EcoChoices makes a biodegradable poop bag that can be thrown out with yard waste and decomposes completely, eliminating them going to landfills. You can order these bags on their website: http://www.ecoanimal.com/poopbags.html at $7.49 for 50 bags and discounts for larger orders.

2. I line bathroom and kitchen wastebaskets into which we may put wet things, with plastic bags to keep the wastebaskets clean. What should I use instead?

For the tall kitchen wastebasket, EcoChoices also makes a totally biodegradable and compostible kitchen garbage bag. You can order them here: http://www.ecokitchen.com/shop/biodegradablekitchenbags.html 24 bags for $13.99. As far as the bedroom and bathroom wastebaskets, choose a washable surface and just wash them out when you empty them. Even plastic bag liners trap odors, so unless you use a different plastic bag all the time (and where will you get those??) they will not be pleasant.

3. What about toting refrigerated and frozen foods from place to place so they don’t leave wet spots everywhere we put them down?

That’s what your waterproof lining totes are for. After carrying food in them, just sponge them out with warm water and turn wrong-side out to dry.


When is a Walk not Just a Walk?

When it’s a walking trash pick-up. Lots of communities clean up for Earth Day, but what about the other 364 days of the year? Make it a habit once a week to pick up trash and recyclables as your walk. The bending the stretching can be part of your fitness routine and your environment will look a lot better. If someone has discarded a plastic bag, use that to collect the trash and then sort recyclables, including the plastic bag.

The Power of One--for Good or Bad

Delta Sky Magazine did an excellent piece in their March issue on the power of one: doing something once that can have a profound effect on the environment. Here is an example:

If every newspaper reader in the U.S. recycled just one Sunday paper and all its inclusions, it would generate 212 million pounds of cellulose insulation, enough to insulate 118,767 Habitat for Humanity homes, twice as many homes as Habitat has built in the U.S. so far.

To read more of these thought-provoking statistics, go to:
http://www.delta-sky.com/2008_03/greennumbers/

The idea is to live our lives consciously and think about each thing we do that can have an impact on our world.

Walking More and Enjoying It More

I’m walking to a client meeting, my backpack on my back. On the way, I’m stopping to drop off and pick up library books, pick up a few things at the drugstore, and-oh! A movie. No plastic bags involved. Over the winter and spring, I have become very attached to my backpack. It’s a sturdy daypack, really, but lightweight. It allows me to wear a sun or rain-shielding hat, a light jacket, and carry a small umbrella, all with my hands free. When I get to my meeting, I stow the hat and jacket, pull out my portfolio, and I’m all business. Did I mention I got a five-mile walk in the process?

Part of weaning ourselves from plastic bags involves developing new habits. Where in the past, or present for some of us, a meeting, drugstore, video store, etc would have meant three separate car trips, resulting in lots of emissions, wear and tear on our autos as they burn solid-gold fuel, and more of a paunch around our middles. All it takes is some good equipment, and a new routine, one that is planned out in advance to make more efficient use of our time, and to serve double and triple-duty. What errands can you combine? How can you incorporate more biking or walking and less driving? How can you keep backpacks and tote bags convenient so you are never without a reusable bag when you need one? Think about it.

Earth Day is Here!

As people all over the country gear up for Earth Day celebrations, it’s a good time to reflect on our impact on the planet. While we may feel an insignificant part of the whole picture, we make it up in volume. For instance, each person turning off lights in rooms not being used times leventy billion people equals a lot of kilowatt hours saved! Same with water, same with plastic bag litter. Think in terms of the multiplicative effect of many people taking the same actions. Some of the things we can do to get started:

Stop buying bottled water. Sure, you recycle your bottles, but overall, we disposed of 70 million plastic water bottles daily. Fewer than 15% are recycled, and the water isn’t usually of any higher quality than tap water. If you really want to be green, drink tap water from metal reusable bottles. If that’s not possible where you are, refill the plastic one and use it as many times as you can before you recycle it.

Visit http://globalfootprint.org and take the quiz to discover how you are impacting the environment. It’s sobering. http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/info.asp When I took the quiz, it really raised my awareness of how much we consume, compared to the average person on this planet. When, at the end of the quiz, I clicked on what I can do, it took me to this link: http://ww2.earthday.net/plasticbags and guess what: we can quit using plastic bags. (My point exactly!)

So how are you going to get started eliminating plastic bags from your life:
Got through all your drawers and closets and pull out all those canvas tote bags you’ve gotten from conferences over the years. Stuff them all into one and put them in your car; hang a few on a hook by the back door for when you walk to errand. (You DO walk to some errands, don’t you?)

Then ANYTIME you are going to a store of any kind (and yes, that certainly includes Wal-Mart), take your bags in with you. It takes about 3 months to make it an unconscious habit, but YOU CAN DO IT!

There isn’t time to put this off. Visiting environmental websites gives us countless ways we can reduce our impact on this planet, but it has to be a conscious choice, and it requires some effort. So far, we don’t have another planet to move to when this one is trashed. With the technologic and financial resources we have, the impact of our actions will take a while to catch up with us, but it is already catching up with the billions of people on this planet our actions impact. Tropical islands now underwater from rising sea levels, pollution in crowded slums, lack of clean drinking water, drought and crop failures. It’s scary, and it’s happening.

Gearing Up for Earth Day

Earth Day is coming. See the earth we have created and what some countries are doing about it:

In Seattle, using Ireland’s successful plastic bag tax as a model, Mayor Greg Nickels is proposing a 20 cent fee on all disposable bags. This type of fee is the first of its kind in the US. If approved, the charges would go into effect Jan 1, 2009. To launch the new program, the city plans to mail one reusable shopping bag to each household.

According to the Los Angeles Time, as of Oct. 2008, IKEA will no longer offer disposable plastic bags or any disposable bags at checkout. Customers will have the options of bringing their own bag, buying a 59¢ IKEA reusable bag, or going bagless.

Greenpeace has made plastic litter part of their cause: “The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers, their durability and stability, also makes them a problem in marine environments. Around 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year of which about 10 percent ends up in the sea. About 20 percent of this is from ships and platforms, the rest from land.” To read the story and see the pictures, go to:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex

Reusable Bags has valuable information on the size of the plastic bag problem, as well as some great reusable bags that should wear well for years to come. To check out their most up-to-date news on plastic bag litter, go to: http://reusablebags.typepad.com/

To sign up for their excellent newsletter, go to:
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1011338707104

Africa is starting to react to the huge problem with plastic bag litter in its countries. These bags are produced and then discarded in huge quantities. The bags block drains and sewage systems and can kill livestock who eat them. They spread malaria by holding warm water for mosquitoes to breed in. They choke soil and plants, and leak color additives into food.

According to an article by the Reuters Foundation: "The plastic problem is now on the agenda of almost every African country," says Mebratu, an Ethiopian with an office in a U.N. compound in Nairobi. "The major focus is to promote rational use and disposal of plastic bags." Rwanda and Eritrea have already banned the bags outright, the United Nations says. "Go to the airport in Kigali and if you have a plastic bag, they will confiscate it," Mebratu said. Somaliland, an autonomous and self-declared independent region of Somalia, has taken a similarly draconian measure. To read the whole article, go to: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20601514.htm

Recyling Moves Forward

The following article is encouraging, but it doesn't address the real problem. If we keep recycling plastic bags, they keep making them. The better solution is not to use them in the first place. Even so, there is growing awareness:

U.S. Plastic Bags, Film Recycling Up 24% in 2006
April 3, 2008

Plastic bags and film recycling increased significantly across the United States in 2006, reaching a record high and validating a growing national recycling trend. The dramatic increase in recycling is in part driven by greater demand for recycled plastic and increased recycling of plastic grocery bags.

An estimated 812,010,000 pounds of post-consumer film (including plastic bags) was recovered in 2006, according to the 2006 National Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Bags and Film Report conducted by Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. of Sonoma, Calif. This represents a 24 percent increase from 652,477,000 pounds recovered in 2005.

"More Americans are recycling plastic bags and film than ever before, driven by a growing recognition that plastic is a valuable resource -- too valuable to waste," said Steve Russell, managing director for ACC's Plastics Division.

"Over the past several years, Trex has processed and used a tremendous amount of recycled plastic and that demand has led us to partner with the public and private sector on innovative recycling programs," said Dave Heglas of TREX, a northern Virginia company that uses recycled plastic bags to manufacture green building materials. "We have recycled over 2.5 billion pounds of plastic over the last 10 years into lumber substitutes for outdoor decks."

The value of recycled plastic is leading to new innovations in the bag industry too. Hilex Poly, a leading plastic bag manufacturer, established a program that recycles old bags into new ones called Bag-2-Bag®. Last year Hilex recycled the equivalent of 400 million bags and reduced the use of new material by 8 million pounds.

This increase in recycling is expected to continue or accelerate, in large part due to the greater prevalence of plastic bag recycling; and as more retailers set up bag collection programs. California's 2007 at-store plastic bag recycling mandate and a similar measure in New York City will fuel continued recycling growth. Similar measures are also being considered by other localities across the nation.

Source: Environmental Protection News: http://www.eponline.com/articles/60335

News Tips from Our Friends at ReusableBags.com

The Whole Foods Market chain announced that it would stop offering plastic grocery bags, giving customers a choice between recycled paper or reusable bags. It will take effect by April 22, Earth Day.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom signaled that he will use the law to stop supermarkets giving away free plastic bags within the next 12 months. He has praised Marks & Spencer, which announced that it would impose a 5p charge on bags. Reminded of the scale of the problem every week when he saw the number of bags his family's shopping generated, the prime minister said that he was now willing to use compulsion to ensure that others stores followed the M&S lead.

After five years of the plastic bag tax, Ireland has changed the image of cloth bags. Vincent Cobb, president of ReusableBags.com said: "Using cloth bags has been seen as an extreme act of a crazed environmentalist. We want it to be seen as something a smart, progressive person would carry." In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. 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.

We use 60,000 plastic bags in US every 5 seconds and 2 million plastic beverage bottles in the US every five minutes. Want to see what that looks like? http://reusablebags.typepad.com/newsroom/2007/09/running-the-num.html

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

The real cost of “free” plastic retail bags: http://reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=2

Loving the Earth You Are On

April 22 is Earth Day, a day we think about our home and how to protect it. What small thing can each of us do to consciously demonstrate that this globe we live on is the only home most of us is likely to have? Here are some ideas for single-handed actions each of us can take in honor of this home that has been pretty darn good to us so far:

Take a paper bag out with you on a walk and pick up all the trash you see and put it in a trash can.

Recycle more of what you use. Some of us get busy and don’t want to take the time to clean out that peanut butter jar so it can be recycled. We don’t break down cereal boxes and other cardboard packaging that can be recycled.

Buy reusable cloth bags and keep them in your car so you remember to take them in with you when you go to the grocery, Target, Wal-Mart, or the drugstore. Don’t only use them for groceries. Take them anywhere you will have purchases bagged.

Buy reusable bags for your family and close friends as gifts and encourage them to do the same.

Call an environmental organization in your area and volunteer to man a booth or help out with their Earth Day event.

Ask your grocery store to observe Earth Day by putting a display of reusable bags at the check-outs and have clerks call attention to it.

Walk to more appointments and save the environment your auto fumes and gas consumption. If you don’t need many groceries, take a backpack to the store with you and walk there.

Combine trips to avoid a lot of short trips for one errand.

Make a list of environmentally friendly things you have trouble with but resolve to do and post it in a prominent place where not only you, but visitors will also see: on your refrigerator, on your office wall, etc.

Get the Word Out

Dear Friends of our planet (I hope I can call you friends):

Below is a letter I have sent to the corporate headquarters of our local supermarket chain. I am also working on one for the mayor and the governor’s office, and my state senators and representatives. It wasn’t hard to do. I got the template from ReusableBags.com. They have done all the work for you. Just go to this site http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php and download either the government letter or the grocery store letter and make it personal. Do we need this? Just read the other stories on this blog, and catch the new pictures from Senegal, courtesy of my friend Helene. It is this way all over the world. Time to act on something, and plastic bags is a good piece to start with. Mary Jo

Letter:
Dear Schnucks:

As a concerned regular customer at Sarah-Lindell, I am writing to ask you to join in with other leading retailers including Ikea, Costco and Whole Foods by either 1) offering a $.05 or $.10 credit per bag for customer that chose to bring their own and/or 2) introducing a small fee of .15 cents per disposable, single-use plastic bag. This will both save you money and help establish the Schnucks name as a responsible retailer that cares about our environment.

Introduced 25 years ago, single use plastic bags are now consumed at an astounding rate of approximately 500 billion per year globally, or 1 million per minute. It is estimated that 1% or 5 billion of these bags end up as wind blow litter each year. These bags that take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, often wind up in waterways or the landscape, becoming eyesores and eventually degrading water and soil as they break down into tiny toxic bits.

Their manufacture and disposal also uses large quantities of non-renewable resources, especially petroleum, a key ingredient in plastic. Large amounts of global warming gases are released during their production, transportation, and disposal. Environmentally, disposable plastic bags are a serious problem. Hundreds of thousands of marine animals, including endangered sea turtles, die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food. Paper bags are not the answer, since independent studies show they have roughly as many negative impacts as plastic ones.

The negative impacts of disposable bags could be reduced easily and significantly by charging for their usage at the point of purchase. In cooperation with retailers, the Irish government introduced a plastic bag tax (PlasTax) last year that has slashed consumption over 90% and raised $9.6 million for environmental and waste management projects. Another benefit is that stores save money on bag purchases and improve their public image. For example, Superquinn, one of the largest Irish grocery chains, says the number of bags it distributes for free has dropped by 97.5%.

Charging for disposable bags and rewarding the use of reusable bags is a win-win solution to the disposable bag problem. It helps create the foundation for public-private partnership consumer in solving environmental problems, and saves retailers money.

Thank you for your careful thought on this matter, and I hope, the introduction of a store policy to charge for disposable bags and give credit for reusable ones. Corporate responsibility like this can make the difference between keeping and losing customers.

Sincerely,


Mary Jo Blackwood
St. Louis, MO 63112

Affluence = Waste = Trash

Visiting villages and towns in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, I was struck by the affluence/trash link. The more remote the village, usually the less the trash because they make their own utensils out of wood, calabash gourds, and earthenware. They use everything.

The more contact a village has with markets, the more trash they accumulate, and there is no trash disposal. Cheap black plastic bags and other waste ends up along the road, or in makeshift pits out of which clay from bricks has been cut. Grazing animals eat it and become sickened. Children play in potentially hazardous waste, and the pristine nature of the countryside is eroded. While we can pack all our trash out to appropriate disposal, how do we change what’s happening in developing countries? It’s not like we can tell them to put it in a wastebasket or something. The only chance to deal with it is to stop it at the source, and pressure manufacturers to make only biodegradable products. The garbage man is NOT coming this week!

Not Your Mother's Sight-Seeing Trip

For those of us who love pristine corners of the world, and to appreciate our planet up close, this is NOT what we would have chosen. This has been there since the 1950s, but how many of us knew about it? Read on:

"A little-known island continent of floating toxic plastic garbage, TWICE the size of Texas, is growing in the pacific between California and Hawaii. Officially known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, until it can be taxed, U.S. officials will continue to ignore it. I heard of it once many years ago, but it apparently has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950's, and now consists of 80% plastic. It has also been called Gilligan's Island, from the trashy TV sitcom that won't go away."

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii. The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.
Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/22/floating-toxic-plast.html

How to Wean Ourselves from Plastic Bags

Tips for Weaning Ourselves from Plastic (or paper) Bags

Pull out all your old canvas tote bags you’ve gotten from conferences, fairs, and other events; you know, the ones with the sturdy handles. Put them all in the biggest one and throw them in your trunk. If you trade off cars, put some in each. Then each time you go into a store for something, take enough bags you think will hold what you’ve come to purchase. That includes grocery stores, Wal-Mart, drug stores, the shopping mall, etc.

Refuse to accept a plastic bag for your purchase. If you have to juggle several items loose, you’ll soon remember to bring in your bags!

Order reusable bags from www.reusablebags.com. They have everything from the large canvas totes to string bags for produce, zipped mesh bags for small produce, and thermal bags for frozen items. You can put your veggies and fruit right into the mesh bags at check out and from there into the refrigerator. That way, you don’t use those flimsy produce plastic bags either. They aren’t exactly eco-friendly.

Send your supermarket a letter asking them to give credits for bringing your own bags. Our Colorado boonies grocery store gives me a nickel for each bag I bring in. So can the chains.

Paper bags are also detrimental to the environment and use resources to produce, so reusable bags are the best way to go. If you can’t find a recycling site for your used plastic bags, reuse them for pet waste, as garbage can liners, or to put things in that you might use a new ziplock plastic bag for each time. Just don’t acquire any more of them.

Be informed. Read the environmental impact bullets with this article. You’ll be more likely to use your reusable bags.


The Impact of Plastic Bags

· 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)

· 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; instead they break down into smaller toxic byproducts, contaminating soil and waterways and getting into our food supply via animals.

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

Success Stories:

· 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.

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

Source: www.reusablebags.com

Plastic Bag Litter Kills

For some time now, I’ve been teaching a class called Aging with Pizzazz, one that helps people maximize their aging quality of life by using their experience and education to make a difference. I encourage people to become activists for a better world. While I spend no small amount of time volunteering for the Red Cross, I could do more. The question for me, has been, as it is for all of us, which of all the issues about which I feel strongly, should I devote myself to? Is it better to do a little for several issues, or really make an effort to become informed and make more of a difference for one cause?

I already know that answer. Years ago when my son was in Jr. High, I was volunteering with so many agencies in addition to my job that he came to me and said, “Mom, you are going to have to give up something. (And he hoped it wasn’t him!) So I said no to everyone except the Red Cross, reasoning that an in-depth knowledge of one organization would increase both my commitment to volunteering and my value to the Red Cross. That proved to be one of my best decisions.

I’m again at that crossroads: What to do: health care reform, global warming issues, homelessness, world ecology. It had to be something large enough to be a significant problem, and small enough to be able to take on. The answer turns out to be: plastic bag litter. Maybe that doesn’t seem like much in the whole scheme of things, but we really aren’t doing much about it in this country. Australia has some major plastic bag issues going, and we should, too. What makes it personal for me is our world travels. Everywhere we go to beautiful unspoiled places, the beauty is marred by plastic bag litter: Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico. And it’s not only an eyesore. Plastic bags kill.

According to PlanetArk (www.planetark.com/plasticbags):

• In the marine environment, plastic bag litter kills at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals, and turtles each year. After an animal is killed by plastic bags, its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment where it can kill again. Plastic bags can take 1000 years to decompose.
• Planet Ark has worked with a number of communities in Australia to become Plastic Bag Free Towns.

Since March 2002, Ireland has reduced its plastic check-out bag usage by 90%.

I’ll have more information on the problem, as well as resources for reusable bags, and other groups doing things. Not only has Ireland reduced its usage, there are major initiatives to either heavily tax their use or ban them all together going on in Taiwan, South Africa, and Bangladesh. Several other regions, including England and some U.S. cities are considering similar approaches.