Reduce Plastic Grocery Bag Waste: BYOB Today
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Why BYOB?This is a query everyone must ask themselves. We are midway through 2010 and there has by no means been a more essential time to bring your own reusable green bags. When you BYOB, rather than using single-use plastic or paper disposable bags, you immediately become a part of the solution to the immense urban waste problem linked with disposable shopping bag waste. As of July 1, 2010, it is estimated that more than 240 billion plastic bags have been consumed in 2010 alone. What ís even more alarming is the effect that plastic and paper disposable bags are continuing to have on the environment. The intent of this article is to look at the most recent news regarding large-scale efforts to cut down on the use of plastic and paper throw-away bags along with the subsequent waste, and talk about what choices are available to us individual consumers in order to make sure we are a part of the solution to this crisis.
The good news is that BYOB momentum is rising quickly in this year. If you have not noticed yet, the California legislature has proposed a bill; AB 1998 (to be voted on by the Senate in August), which would outlaw throw-away bags sold inside supermarkets, drugstores, convenience, and liquor stores and take full effect around 2013. Even ìThe Governatorî, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that he would sign his name on the legislation if it makes it to his desk. This could be a gigantic victory for all friends of the environment to have the largest state, inside the 3rd largest country on the planet, to put in place a prohibition on throw-away plastic bags. Taking into consideration that China already c racked down on plastic bags in 2008 and Ireland legislative efforts to lower plastic bag consumption started in 2002, it is so terrific to hear that California state representatives have presented this possible law to the table.
In the United States, metropolitan areas from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Washington DC have voted for or enacted laws and regulations that either tax customers for the utilization of plastic bags or prohibit them overall, but California would be the first American state to take action if this possible law were to be approved. More exciting news, even legislators from the state of Texas have created possible legislation that would affix a seven-cent tax per throw-away bag used. It is so amazing that there is a chance that both Texas and/or California may possibly soon have policies in place to battle the plastic bag epidemic. Efforts by persons and governments to decrease large-scale use of throw-away shopping bags is a great method to motivate people and spread the word concerning the overwhelmingly positive benefits of ecologically friendly reusable shopping bags.
Plastic bags might take up to one thousand years to biodegrade fully, and prior to that it just decomposes down in to smaller and smaller poisonous pieces that wind up inside our food, water, and soil. Biodegradable reusable grocery bags, are a wonderful alternative, once thrown away in landfill sites, the subjection to daylight, oxygen, and warmth will convert these bags into liquid, carbon dioxide, mineral salt and biomass. Like a fallen leaf, it will disappear in time plus leave NO Toxic Residue in the soil. Plastic bags finish up inside our landfills moreover regularly get tangled and trigger permanent problems in trash management machinery. Hundreds of millions if not billions of other bags end up as urban litter and usually find their way in to ponds, resevoirs, streams, and the sea. Animals, especially marine animals, get entangled in plastic bags, and/or swallow them and often asphyxiate or starve to death.
So the resolution leads us back to BYOB, which is extremely effortless. Just remember to utilize ecologically friendly reusable grocery bags or recycled grocery bags, or reuse an older bag, period. Be sure to keep extra reusable bags inside your vehicle and/or inside your backpack, because you will want to be sure they are accessible as soon as you require them. Also remember to clean your bags after use, especially after transporting uncooked foods and cleaning supplies. You may also offer them to your family as a reminder to BYOB. Of course, continuously remember to recycle when the chance presents itself, recycling is always a win-win situation for the natural world. Instituting a BYOB habit in our individual lives and organizations is certainly the finest way to make sure we are truly part of the solution rather than the problem. Now is the time to go out and lead by example.
Mirrored from Mindzle.