plastic bags

[lorraine]

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

[Susie]

very informative, shame , publix should stick to paper bags, although I did hear they were going to stop providing bags , not sure how true that is, and apparently you will have to bring your own shopping bags

[grumps]

not all of it s true, plastic is a buy product from oil when making gas. but the principle is very good, but like most things there is always the other side, if you do not use plastic and use paper then you have to cut down more trees. i am sure that there are some animals that are affected by the blowing around od plastic but lets have it in proportion. more are killed by cars so do we ban cars.
now don't get me wrong i hate waste but things have to be put into perspective. and lets look for an alternative use for the bags that is cost affective and practical.

[Callie]

Well on returning to the UK I found that good old M&S foodhall now charge 5p for a carrier bag. If you take your own bags to Sainsbury's you get extra nectar points, and every shop you go in asks if you need a bag. However, I think it is going to backfire as 'most' people use the plastic carrier bags to either wrap foodstuff to throw away or re-use them for pedal bin liners. Now if you have to keep using the bags for shopping till they split what are you going to use in pedal bins...ah you have to now buy pedal bin liners hence more waste...

[chris]

At least we used to recycle our Walmart bags by using them as dog poo bags. Plastic does take a long time to degrade unless you put it with what came out of our dogs bottom!!
On a serious note, most plastics are oil based however, they do make corn starch plastics which are bio degradable and are made using the lactic acid from corn. We're in the promo industry and a lot of products are now being made of this. I suppose there is nothing to stop them making shopping bags out of it.
I finished reading a James Patterson novel last night - it was about global warming. At the end were a few 'facts' which I pass on ...
1. Every 3 months Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire US Air fleet.
2. Americans trash 700 plastic bottles every second. It's enough to make 2 million fleece sweaters every day. (not sure I'd want to wear a fleece sweater made out of plastic bottles though?)
3. A water faucet (tap to the UK) that leaks one drop per second will drip 160 gallons per month.
4. Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours.
5. Americans used almost 100 billion plastic bags every year.

Personally, I think the packaging industry and govt has a lot to answer for as most consumers have no choice in what they get their food/goods in. Perhaps if every retailer was forced to take back all the packaging from the goods they sell, things might change.

[InnVic]

4. Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours.


.......if its three hours of American Idol I'm throwing my cola cans into a landfill!

[Kriz1]

I used my shopping bags for rubbish...they are great to use if just pulling up a few weeds...I used some to take cans to the supermarket for recycle...then they go in the bag recycle bin in the shop...

I would like a pick up for recycle in our area in MA...we have one in FL...

[kirtida8]

They used to pick up plastic bottles for recycling in Celebration - but stopped and now only pick up cans and paper. Guess they didn't have the demand for fleeces? But they also use the plastic for the stuffing for comforters and ski jackets.