No more plastic bags

[Professor]

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/29/britain.plastic.ap/index.html

English town bans plastic bags

LONDON, England (AP) -- A small town in southwest Britain is banning plastic bags in a bid to help the environment and cut waste -- a move environmentalists believe is a first for Europe.

Shopkeepers in Modbury, population 1,500, agreed to stop giving out disposable plastic bags to customers on Saturday. They said paper sacks and cloth carrier bags would be offered instead.

Last month, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags.

Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.

Modbury, about 225 miles southwest of London, has also declared a bag amnesty, allowing residents to hand in plastic bags that have piled up at home. They will be sent for recycling.

The Modbury ban was the idea of Rebecca Hosking, a local resident who saw the effect of bags on marine life while working in the Pacific as a wildlife camerawoman.

She said response in the town so far had been "really positive."

"Modbury's quite an old-fashioned town and a lot of people have wicker baskets to go out shopping anyway," Hosking told Sky News television.

The Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research agency, estimates that 100 billion plastic bags are discarded each year in the United States alone. More than 500 billion are used annually around the world.

[jafar00]

Where I shop, they haven't given out plastic bags for years. I lug everything loose in a caddy and large backpack. Though it was a bit of a pain to me not having bags at first, I got used to it and it's not a problem to me any more. Less plastic in the environment the better.

[Professor]

I'd be very upset without plastic bags. After bringing them home from the grocery store I use them to pick up my dog's poop, transport my wet swimsuit from the gym to home and a lot of other miscellaneous purposes.

[lily]

I'm with you professor I do use them for other reasons also. I think if a country, any country wants to be taken seriously on plastic bags they first need to get serious about disposable diapers.

[BoogyMan]

I bet a change in attitudes about disposable diapers is going to be an extremely hard sell even if it is a great idea. Another good way to ease up on the use of plastics would be to consider our views of product packaging. It seems that just about everything you buy these days whether boxed or not comes sealed in plastic.

[Professor]

What about popcorn, the kind that comes in fragile packages? That is wasteful.

[Drocket]

Boxes really aren't that bad - they decompose quickly, at least, and can easily be recycled if one wants to go that route. Plastic bags can't be recycled (at least not in any way that's remotely cost-efficient) and stick around for centuries.

As for diapers, the solution there is simply to divorce the diaper part from the plastic shell. There's already a few types of diapers around that use disposable paper innards coupled with a reusable plastic cover. They cost a bit more, though.

[BoogyMan]

HDPE bags are not that difficult to recycle Drocket, but the process is pretty expensive and thus the reticence to recycle them on a large scale at the current moment in time.

I did some Google searching and found that there are some pretty interesting lists of uses for those bags however, that could keep them out of the landfills for many years.

We need not only to change what we use but we are going to have to change our attitudes about the waste involved.

[lily]

As for diapers, the solution there is simply to divorce the diaper part from the plastic shell.Â*Â*There's already a few types of diapers around that use disposable paper innards coupled with a reusable plastic cover.Â*Â*They cost a bit more, though.


I didn't know this Drocket. Sort of like the old fashioned diaper, but different. Maybe the answer would be to charge a nickel for using plastic bags....I know no one would go for it, but what the heck, it's a thought.

[Mayberry]

I don't mind if they get rid of them. I'm tired of seeing them blowing around. And they are a petroleum product. Cut them out and we can make more gas!

[1Samuel8]

Another good way to ease up on the use of plastics would be to consider our views of product packaging.This is an important point.
Whether we talk about plastic bags or diapers or anything else is secondary to the fact that we create too much waste and waste leads to environmental degredation.

People should bear the cost of their consumption.
One step is for people to have a direct price attached to their garbage. In other words, if you have a ton of trash on the drive-way every week you pay more than your neighbor who leaves a tiny amount on pick-up day.

Once people are forced to pay for their garbage directly, they will naturally avoid buying junk with packaging. The "public service" disposal of garbage is a direct contributor to environmental problems. We are digging our own grave by messing with the market and shirking personal responsibility.

[Truth_and_Power]

Another good way to ease up on the use of plastics would be to consider our views of product packaging.This is an important point.Â*Â*
Whether we talk about plastic bags or diapers or anything else is secondary to the fact that we create too much waste and waste leads to environmental degredation.Â*Â*

People should bear the cost of their consumption.Â*Â*
One step is for people to have a direct price attached to their garbage.Â*Â*In other words, if you have a ton of trash on the drive-way every week you pay more than your neighbor who leaves a tiny amount on pick-up day.Â*Â*

Once people are forced to pay for their garbage directly, they will naturally avoid buying junk with packaging.Â*Â*The "public service" disposal of garbage is a direct contributor to environmental problems.Â*Â*We are digging our own grave by messing with the market and shirking personal responsibility.


I whole heartedly agree with this. In some places in europe they sell a lot of stuff in collapseable plastic containers instead of giant boxes with stuffing and an extra layer of packaging for marketing and coupons and etcetcetc. So much of our trash is filled with the packaging of goods we buy. Kudos to jafar for taking personal steps.