EcoLita...who is the Ecodiva
“Paper or Plastic?”…..NOT!!
By EcoLita…who is the Ecodiva
It’s a bird, no, it’s a plane, no…it’s a plastic bag. You know the ones I am talking about. The plastic bags that fly around as you are driving down the road, the ones you see stuck on trees, cactus, (if you live in the desert) and anything else they can attach themselves too, are in fact, not only a major user of petroleum, but in addition a huge source of our litter in this country and around the planet.
It is estimated that we toss out around 100 Billion bags a year, which is equivalent to dumping 12 million barrels of oil…you do the math now and see how much money we are spending on plastic bags.
Unfortunately, we only recycle about 2% of the plastic bags in the US and maybe 1% worldwide.
They are in our land fills and will take centuries to decompose and break down. Of course, at this point, that’s a wild guess, because we do not really know, due to the fact that they have not been in the landfills for a century yet.
They also cause great distress to our wildlife and sea life, by tangling up animals and sea creatures and just creating one big sorry mess.
Yes, they can be recycled and when disposed of properly with recycling, they can be reused. However, we do not seem to do that very well.
People just toss them out and do not think about the negative impact these bags makes on our planet.
So, EcoLita will never complain about something, and not come up with a suggestion on how to change or do it differently.
It’s all about choices and I believe if you want to use less plastic bags or stop using them all together, then use paper bags or better yet, purchase those “recycled” plastic bags that the stores sell and use those every time you shop.
Almost every retail store, especially grocery stores, has the plastic grocery bags with handles, that can be used to tote your groceries and other products and they are wonderful to use, because they are stronger and last a long time.
The content of these bags are made from recycled plastic bags. They hold up longer, are stronger and are easier to handle. Most of the time they are a dollar or less and many of the stores are offering discount coupons to help consumers purchase more of them.
I keep them in my car, so I can take them into a store, when I shop.
Some stores, such as Trader Joes and others offer paper first, over plastic and that is a better option, than the plastic, because the paper bags are already made from recycled paper.
You can use your paper bags to recycle your newspapers, magazines and cardboard and you can bring your paper bags to the grocery store and reuse them as well.
They may not last as long as the new recycled plastic bags from the stores, but they are better than those awful plastic bags we see scattered along the landscape.
A third option and also worth considering is using fabric totes made from cotton, hemp and polyester.
However, cotton takes a lot of pesticides and water to produce, polyester is another man made chemical based fiber, so bags made from industrial hemp would be my choice for a fabric tote.
So next time you head to the store, take your plastic bags and recycle them in the recycle bins, bring your paper bags and get yourself a stash of recycled plastic shopping bags to use for your shopping needs.
You will be eco-chic, reducing your carbon footprint, and saving millions of barrels of oil, cleaning up our environment and doing the planet a HUGE benefit… and just think, you will do all that by not using plastic shopping bags!
