Plastic Problems

Plastic. I will agree it has some uses, but it is starting to really make a mess of our lands, dumps and the ocean (see above picture - look closely). "Moderation in everything" needs to apply here. There is a glut of information out there on plastic and its effect on people and the environment. I will be brief in my whys and more verbose in my how to change. Here is a link should you want further info on the whys. http://www.ecobags.com/Resources/Impact_of_Plastic_Bags

Plastic is made from crude oil or some petro-derivative. Yes, the foreign oil problem again. One quarter of plastic bags are made in Asia - another political problem. The big problem - plastic doesn't biodegrade. It doesn't go away. We use plastic bags for our own convenience for minutes and then we throw them out, without having a short-term end. Paper and cardboard will eventually go away, but not plastic. Bags take about 500 years to degrade and bottles thousands of years to degrade. Can you imagine the legacy we are leaving future generations? Think of all the wraps on all our food products, toys, etc that are not recyclable and are going to sit in our dumps, blow into the trees and water supplies for the next 500 to 1000 years. It is nearly impossible to get rid of plastic all together - I have tried, but we can decrease our plastic usage.

1. Shopping Bags.

Americans throw out 100 BILLION polyethylene bags per year. Less than one percent ever gets recycled. All of these will be sitting on our planet somewhere for the next 500 years.

So what to do? Get some canvas etc. reusable bags. USE them- don't leave them in the car. If you do, you can do what I do and embarrass yourself at the checkout line by going to get them, and you won't do it again. There are mesh bags for the produce department too - no need for the extras.

Reusable bags are not just for the grocery store! You can bring them to the mall, restraunts etc. too.

If you forget your bags- get paper not plastic, and skip the tissue paper. Combine as many things as you can, into the minimal amount of bags possible. Oh, and politely tell Subway no thanks next time they want to give you a plastic bag to carry your sandwich to your table.

Here is where you can buy all sorts of bags - on sale now :) http://www.ecobags.com/Our_Products

If you do happen to get a plastic bag - reuse it several times and when it is done for - recycle it.

2. Drink Bottles

Man was this person a marketing genius. Water in a bottle. What happened to cups and faucets? It was a total mind shift and a serious waste of money. I wonder how much we have all spent on water bottles . . . and could we get that back? We as Americans put 38 BILLION plastic bottles in the landfills (no not recycled - these are the ones in the dumps).

Anyway, the solution? Get a reusable water bottle - preferably not plastic. Refill it. Use it. If you forget to fill up - Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and many nice stores will fill up your water bottle. At the grocery store try to buy bigger containers of juice etc. and fill up your reusable drink bottle with juice too. Also, if the option exists buy your juice in glass. Make sure when you are done you recycle your glass bottles. And if you do get a plastic bottle remember to recycle it too.

http://www.mysigg.com/ - My favorite water bottle - they have some for kids too.

3. Packaging

As consumers we have power. Choose to buy items that are not packaged 3 or 4 times over. For example, choose a large glass jar of applesauce over the 6 -pack of plastic containers re-wrapped in plastic inside a cardboard box. It will be cheaper too! Or if you can't come up with another way for lunches, choose to buy the small containers for lunches only and use large jar for all other occasions. If you have the chance, tell companies that we don't like things constantly packaged in plastics we can only throw out. Ask them to mark their product packages with the recycling signs. The more people who change these habits will create changes in industry.

Other suggestions:

• Try to buy appliances/electronics where many of the parts are reusable, recyclable etc.
• Watch your kids toys - is there another option besides all plastic? Are they recyclable?
• And most importantly - start to be aware of how much plastic you use in your life.