A recent study showed that on an average, an American uses about 500 plastic bags in one year. The time that these bags are used for is just 12 minutes per plastic bag after which some of them are just strewn around on the road, while others are disposed of by other means. According to a KCAUTV.com report, a local organization has taken up the responsibility of changing this trend of opting for plastic bags at the grocery store. A lot of large stores are witnessing a rise in sustainable and eco-friendly measures as the threat of global warming and climate change is increasing.
Michael John from Sioux City stated that the only advantage that plastic bags have is that they are extremely convenient. Another spokesperson from Sioux City, Lanette Falk added that she reuses plastic bags for recycling and to line the wastebaskets around the house. Kristy Koivisto from Sioux City said that plastic bags are always reused by her for several things apart from packing her child’s lunch.
Steps towards an eco friendly community
These people do not realize that no matter how many times they are reused, plastic bags eventually end up in landfills or just as litter in public places. Sally Reinert from Bring Your Own Bag’s stated that people create a lot of trash that doesn’t even have to exist in the first place. To combat the use of plastic bags, Sally has put together a ‘Bring Your Own Bag” committee to motivate businesses to distribute reusable bags for groceries and discourage plastic bags. She added that if people can remember to bring money to purchase groceries they can also remember to carry these bags; it’s just a matter of forming a habit.
Reinert believes that using plastic bags is an eye sore and it also harms livestock, the environment, and is a setback to economic development. A community that looks like trash portrays one that is declining and past its prime and people don’t want their community to look like that so it is up to them to make an effort. The ‘Bring Your own Bag’ committee organised its inauguration event on the 1st of May. Members of the committee namely, the South Sioux Walmart, the South Sioux Walgreens and the South Sioux City HyVee gave away free reusable shopping totes to customers.
The committee is also helping spread awareness about the benefits of using reusable bags as opposed to plastic grocery bags. The bags can be washed and dried, and it is recommended that separate bags are used for vegetables and meat.
When you really think about it, the statistics about plastic bag usage are staggering and disconcerting. I try to do my best to adopt lifestyle habits that are environmentally friendly, but even I am still using plastic bags from the grocery store, and I store them in order to use them as garbage back for trash cans around the house. What are we supposed to use as replacements for garbage can bags? Is there an alternative Western Mark
I think that preventing the use of plastic bags in the stores will just cause heart ache because elderly have a hard time carrying other types. You have a great article and I think you have a good point as well. I just don’t think it will work. Thank you for posting this I appreciate the efforts.
I am sure that preventing the use of plastic bags would help the environment in so many ways but I am just not sure that you can get everyone on board with it. I like my plastic bags because I can carry more than one at a time in each hand and I can reuse them in trash cans and things. I think we should find a way to burn them cleanly before banning them.
I do hope that this catches on. I understand what it does to the landfills and things but if we could start burning things like this wouldn’t it also salve the problem? Why can’t we incinerate them? We can cremate a body and it doesn’t hurt the environment so why can’t we use the same thing to dispose of trash like this?
As far as green organizations go, I have been tracking several of them and have noticed that Planet Hollywood is one of the leaders in supporting environmentally friendly causes. They created a superhero called captain planet which is now being made into a feature animated film for the cartoon network and possibly the big screen. Several green organizations are taking the green message to another level. There’s also mother nature in peril represented by a surprise heroin.
Can anyone tell me why we can’t incinerate plastic bags and forget about not using them anymore? I know what people are going to say, “what about the poison gases that it would put off? well I am asking, isn’t there a way to do it environmentally safe? There are plants around the country developing poisons and things that would be harmful and getting away with it, how?
Ok we don’t have to stop using plastic bags we just need to stop cutting down the trees in the world because they are what keeps the air clean and oxygenated. I remember when I was a kid out on our farm we burned our trash and that included the plastic bags and nothing came off of that fire that the hurt us, what is the difference now?
Good point on the trees William, we definitely should also be conserving our forest and jungles for good clean air, we really can’t live without that now can we? My questions is really, how long did you stand by those plastic fires? The fumes are definitely not good for you. Thanks for your comments.
They don’t think that these plastic bags have anything to do with the so called global warming epidemic do they? There is no such thing as global warming, have they bothered to watch any of these reality shows like Ice Road truckers or Deadliest Catch were they are all the time talking about the ice being thicker and more of it year after year? You can’t have that with global warming.
Hi Shelley, it’s more to do with the oceans and the environment in general. Especially when it comes to the ocean, the plastic bags degrade to small pieces that are ingested by fish we eat. This contamination is becoming more and more common. The issue of global warming or climate change is a big topic for debate. Thanks for your comments.
You know of course that these little plastic bags are not going to make that big of a difference? I agree that there might be a problem with our Ozone layer but how many hundreds of years did it take to get that way? And it has already been proven that global warming is not true.
I am sorry but convenience is not a good enough reason to continue to contribute to this over usage of plastic bags. When you think about it, how often a person goes shopping or how many trash bags they use in a week at hone, and then you multiply that by the number of people that live in any given community, and you can begin to realize the real scale of this problem. Do plastic bags go into land fills?
You are absolutely right Robert, it is astounding to think about the number of plastic bags we use only once or twice before they make their way to the dump and ultimately into our ecosystem. Using reusable bags is a simple change that makes sense for people and the planet. The average sized reusable bag has 5 times the capacity of the typical plastic grocery bag.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that plastic bags are an eyesore; You probably don’t know this, but China’s streets are white with them, and they’ve earned the title “white pollution. South Africa bitterly dubs them the national flower due to their prevalence. Aesthetic reasons alone offer an incentive to clean up plastic bags. And then there’s this stat: In the United States an estimated 8 billion pounds of plastic sacks is found in the annual waste.
Good stuff Darius.
I am very glad to read that this green trend is continuing to thrive. My hope is that this initiative spreads to more than a few states. In fact, I hope it spreads nationwide. One thing we should expect though, is that the wealthy plastic bag manufacturers are not just going to stand by and watch their business go defunct. They will fight any legislative attempt to outlaw plastic bags by using their unlimited resources.
Hi Aaron, thanks for your support. The movement makes sense on so many levels, one of the primary for businesses is money, it’s actually cheaper in the long run to produce reusable bags!
That is an unreal statistic about the use of plastic bags. And to think that these bags are created and then used only to transport food from the grocery store to the home. That is such a waste when you think about the ramifications it has on the planet. I know I am guilty of using plastic bags when I go shopping. In fact, I also use them for trash cans and I’ve amassed a pile of them.
I found some interesting stats which may surprise you. 15 percent of polyethylene bags, sacks and wraps were recycled in 2010. This is up from 12% from the year before. There’s a 31% increase of bag and film recovery since 2005, according to the Moore Recycling Association’s 2009 National Postconsumer Recycled Plastic Bag & Film Report. 12,000 Locations across the country take back plastic bags and product wraps to be recycled, often at retail stores.