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