As part of my internship for Freshkills Park, I get to research and write on blog topics that have some relevance to the park. This week, I discovered that a supermarket is opening up in Berlin that is fully free of disposable packaging. It is a great concept, and one that has already been introduced in America at a store in Austin, TX. I am hopeful we will see more stores move in this direction, because the fact of the matter is 32% of our household waste comes from food packaging.
However, I don't want to write about the ideas those two supermarkets are focusing on. Researching that topic reminded me of the continuing battle we have with plastic bags. They are everywhere! and sadly they are going nowhere once we have disposed of them. How many of us have found plastic bags strewn in street gutters, floating in a pond, caught in the limbs of a tree, or swirling around in a parking lot? Yes, they are easy to use for stores and consumers, but they are terrible for the environment. They don't biodegrade, meaning the plastic will always pose an environmental problem in some form. Most can be recycled, either through the store or your local recycling facility, but most folks don't know about this. In fact, this short YouTube video shows us how immortal these bags are.
Most of us aren't aware that plastics are actually made from oil. So in addition to remaining a problem long after they are made, the production of plastic bags is actually contributing to global warming. These handy human-creations are just plain bad. Most of us know plastic bags are not the best, yet we continue to use them, myself included. So far, the best way to get us to stop using them in mass quantities is by stores and governments providing carrot & stick incentives. For example, some cities - most notably San Francisco - tax plastic bags in the form of a 10-cent surcharge per bag used. Another example is the grocer/retailer chain in Great Britain, Marks & Spencer, that charges a fee for each plastic bag used. Other retailers offer discounts to those who bring in their reusable tote bags.
Personally, I would like to see more stores and governments adopt the measures of the above examples. The effect is a decrease in the use of plastic bags. Of course, other ideas should be formed and implemented that will help us get off the plastic bag high we all suffer from. Sometimes we can change our own habits, other times we need a little prodding to get us to alter our bad habits. I am hopeful we will see the decline of plastic bag usage within the next few years, but we have to start now. I am committing right now to put and keep a tote bag in my backpack so that I will always have it with me whenever I make those unexpected trips to a store. Please join me in making the stand against the plastic bag.
However, I don't want to write about the ideas those two supermarkets are focusing on. Researching that topic reminded me of the continuing battle we have with plastic bags. They are everywhere! and sadly they are going nowhere once we have disposed of them. How many of us have found plastic bags strewn in street gutters, floating in a pond, caught in the limbs of a tree, or swirling around in a parking lot? Yes, they are easy to use for stores and consumers, but they are terrible for the environment. They don't biodegrade, meaning the plastic will always pose an environmental problem in some form. Most can be recycled, either through the store or your local recycling facility, but most folks don't know about this. In fact, this short YouTube video shows us how immortal these bags are.
Most of us aren't aware that plastics are actually made from oil. So in addition to remaining a problem long after they are made, the production of plastic bags is actually contributing to global warming. These handy human-creations are just plain bad. Most of us know plastic bags are not the best, yet we continue to use them, myself included. So far, the best way to get us to stop using them in mass quantities is by stores and governments providing carrot & stick incentives. For example, some cities - most notably San Francisco - tax plastic bags in the form of a 10-cent surcharge per bag used. Another example is the grocer/retailer chain in Great Britain, Marks & Spencer, that charges a fee for each plastic bag used. Other retailers offer discounts to those who bring in their reusable tote bags.
Personally, I would like to see more stores and governments adopt the measures of the above examples. The effect is a decrease in the use of plastic bags. Of course, other ideas should be formed and implemented that will help us get off the plastic bag high we all suffer from. Sometimes we can change our own habits, other times we need a little prodding to get us to alter our bad habits. I am hopeful we will see the decline of plastic bag usage within the next few years, but we have to start now. I am committing right now to put and keep a tote bag in my backpack so that I will always have it with me whenever I make those unexpected trips to a store. Please join me in making the stand against the plastic bag.
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