Plastic bags and the Go Green craze

It has been nice to see the number of articles in various mainstream magazines and newspapers devoted in some way or another to environmental conservation concerns. There are of course the places you'd expect to see them, like National Geographic, but then there are also magazines like People (that's right folks, I read People. Afterall, I need to get my fix of America popculture!) that have been publishing more and more related articles.

In the April 28 issue of People there is an article on the plastic bag ban. San Francisco became the first city in the US last December to outlaw disposable plastic bags. As of now it only effects large grocery and drugstore chains, but that most likely addresses the bulk of the plastic bags being distributed. Similar bans have already occurred in cities in Ireland, India, and Bangladesh. Similar programs, albeit voluntary, have been instituted in Australia and Taiwan has passed a law requiring retailers to charge customers for plastic bags and utensils. As a result, Taiwan has seen a 69% drop in use of these products. In addition, the country of China recently cracked down on plastic bag use by outlawing the manufacture and distribution of very thin bags, and requires retailers to sell any plastic bags distributed. Over 12 US cities and four states are currently considering similar plastic bag bans.

The concerns regarding plastic bags are many-fold. It is estimated that consumers use between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags every year; in the US it is estimated to be between 20 - 100 billion. These bags in America are manufactured using more than 12 million barrels of oil! And sadly, only a small percentage are recycled. And the rest? You could still see them littering our lands and water 1,000 years from now. In addition, thousands of sea creatures (whales, sea turtles, seals) are killed every year after ingesting plastic bags.

A few grocery stores I know of are actively recommending the use of alternatives to disposable plastic bags. Whole Foods has recently completely stopped using disposable plastic bags. They sell inexpensive recycled plastic bags at their stores, and encourage you to use your own bags by discounting your bill by 5 cents/bag. And if you don't have a bag, you can still use their 100% recycled paper bags. Another one of my favorite stores, Trader Joe's, still offers paper and plastic bags but also sells cotton bags. I would think they'd follow Whole Food's lead in the near future though. Additionally, Ikea charges 5 cents for plastic bags.

Personally, we have just started using a reusable bag for our groceries. Like most people, about 92% of Americans, we reuse our disposable plastic bags for various things, mostly to carry something somewhere or to throw other things away. So we probably just reuse them once. Better than nothing, but not good enough. I had been considering using reusable bags for years, but even after putting some cotton totes into our car I'd forget to bring them into the store. However, with the increased press on the environment, a paper bag stocked full of plastic bags, and my recent purchase of a very cool bag, our family is trying to be more committed to not contributing so much to the billions of plastic bags used every year.

Our new, very cool bag is made from non-recyclable plastic waste that is collected by trash pickers in Jakarta. A project called XSProject buys the waste from the trash pickers, providing them with extra income. The project then collaborates with other organizations and small cottage industries to recycle the waste and construct different size totes. And guess what? It looks like you can buy some of these bags in the US!


As you may imagine, Indonesia doesn't have a recycling program. However, a friend in my complex is looking into having our management company install bins for recyclables to be picked up by XSProject (I think). It would feel so good to not have to throw all of our waste into the trash! I'll write more about that if it materializes.

So jump on the bandwagon if you haven't already - start using re-usable bags today!