Thanks to everyone who sent me links to this story about the Chinese plastic bag ban. In a coastal area like ours, we should be especially emphatic about saying “do not want” to these things. They are a scourge on our land and water.
Because of their ubiquity, plastic bags become invisible to us. I’ve discovered, however, that if you try to stop using them and have some success at it, you will become re-sensitized. On those occasions that I forget my reusable bag and end up with a turtle choker in my hand, I’m extremely conscious of it. The plastic bag becomes a persistent, nagging presence. The effect is compounded if I am carrying one back to my office from Kroger and happen to run into a member of the GreenDrinks Savannah committee on the sidewalk. I wonder if he noticed that I was trying to hide the bag behind my back as we talked.
My household’s attempt to kick the plastic bag habit started about a year ago. Before that, we dutifully collected them and returned them a certain supermarket, which features a plastic bag recycling receptacle just west of its entrance. That was until an employee of that particular store revealed that — more often than not — the contents of the plastic bag recycling receptacle rejoined the rest of the waste stream on the back side of the store.
Since then we’ve collected reusable bags from Kroger, Brighter Day, Publix and even some fancy big city bags from Trader Joe’s —it feels sort of subversive to shop at a grocery store using a competing store’s bag. The trick to staying off the plastic bags is to bring your reusable bags with you to the store. That means making sure there are always some in the car, or better yet, on the Xtracycle.
I’m pleased to report that I’m seeing more of my fellow shoppers bringing their own bags to local stores. The checkout clerks and baggers also seem to be more comfortable with the idea. It’s not as often that they try to put plastic bags inside the reusable bags. Or begrudgingly place purchased items in the reusable bag, then wrap it in very sticky security tape. Thankfully that happened to me only once.
Photo credit: Kables via Flickr.
My husband and I are doing our best to only use our reusable bags. We get so mad at ourselves when we forget to bring them to the store. We’ve been using envirosax, which are great to fold up tiny and store in the car, or in my bike basket, or in a purse/backpack. But somehow we still occassionally forget. I wish more stores would do like Ikea and encourage people towards reusable bags by forcing them to purchase the plastic ones.
I wasn’t aware of “a certain store” throwing away the contents of their plastic bag recycling bin. Not shocking, but unfortunate.
did you see this about some research into plastic bags and turtles?
Yrn, I doubt the veracity of the link you provided. Visit the Web site of Sweden’s Environment Research Institute and you’ll find no reference to turtles or “Lan Arned.” In fact, a Google search of that name brings only two results and both are links to the same “news” item. And, is there really a journal called “Nature Science”?
I think its outrageous that the City of Savannah has no or few(?not worth the gas fumes emitted) real recycling centers. I came from a rather rural town recently (Statesboro) Even they had voluntary recycling! Its great that Publix accepts plastic bags. But what do we do with plastic bottles or newspapers. This is really scandalous. Savannians ought to do what they can to keep their ocean and marshes and rivers unpolluted! Originally I came from New York City; there you had to drive two hours at a minimum to find relatively unspoilt countryside and water. What can I do? We need a petition or some kind of activism. NOW!!!