Plastic groceries bags are going the way of the Dodo. At least I hope they are. Maybe I should say that plastic bags are going the way of the Piping Plover (pardon?). Except that I hope the Piping Plovers make a recovery and the plastic bags really do get wiped out – or at least stop breeding.
As of June 1, 2009, stores in Ontario must charge 5 cents per plastic bag. I think this is great, because it encourages people to bring reusable bags, or at least not be wasteful with the plastic bags. Whether folks are financially or environmentally motivated, I say whatever works. Metro reported a 75 % decrease in the average monthly consumption of single-use plastic bags after this policy was implemented. Which begs the question – if it’s working so well, why isn’t everyone doing it? Why just Ontario? It’s seems to be hit or miss in the rest of the country – mostly miss. Calgary, being Calgary (sigh), has decided to look into it.
One step further, some cities have banned (non-biodegradable) plastic bags outright. San Francisco, bless their progressive hearts, was the first US city to ban single-use plastic bags (March 27, 2007). Leaf Rapids, Manitoba (where?) has followed suit. Retailers in both cities could face a $1000-per-day fine if they keep distributing the bags.
Other strategies to reduce single-use bags have been implemented as well. Some companies like Loblaws have taken it upon themselves to charge 5 cents for bags. Other companies like IKEA will sell you a reusable bag or bust (although I imagine not that many consumers need a plastic bag for their bookcase, if you know what I’m saying). Ireland started taxing plastic bags in 2002, and we’re not talking a nickel. Ireland’s tax is 33 cents a bag. Mountain Equipment Co-op had bags that could be composted (at least in Calgary, I don’t know about other cities). Their website suggests that they are even going away from this, and offering reusable, recyclable bags or bust. MEC goes a step further than most companies – if you don’t take a bag at MEC, they donate five cents to an environmental charity. Typically it’s the retailers that keep the five cents.
Reducing single-use plastic bags has loads of benefits, reduced the use of oil (it takes lots of make the bags) reduced amount of carbon dioxide, even including litter. They take forever to break down in landfills, and when they do break down, it’s into smaller and smaller pieces. The pieces can end up contaminating soil, waterways and even getting eaten by animals. You get the idea.
So here is my question:
What is the best thing I can use for garbage? I’m actually asking, so if you have a good system, please leave a comment. Because I don’t get plastic bags from stores, it means that I am almost always shy on bags for garbage. I don’t need black garbage bags – they are too big. This is my best idea, thus far. I’ll go to the big grocery store (not the No Frills right close to me ) that has the plastic bag recycling bin, and take a bunch that other people have brought in. Or is that bad? Maybe those bags being recycled is better than me re-using them, if it’s for garbage. I think this is a better option than using new bags, but is there an even better option?
1 comment:
About the 5 cent tax... I think it's symbolic environmentalism that makes the general public feel good. Why not just outright ban plastic bags? Why not place a ban (or at least place a much higher tax) on things that have much higher negative impacts on the environment: like non-reusable plastic take-out containers, or styrofoam containers, or really toxic cleaning supplies (this is the part that gets me the most... baking soda and vinegar cleans way better than Lysol)?
It is, undoubtedly, a step in the right direction. But when that step is so small compared to what we actually pump into our environment, it becomes kind of useless. There have been no follow-up questions like: what's the next step in reducing plastic? Instead, it just makes people feel good about reducing probably less than 1% of what is actually being put in our landfills (and lakes)! Yes, I made that statistic up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is less than 3% tops.
And in terms of plastic trash bags. There is no "real" environmentally-friendly option other than reducing your waste. Some use biodegradable trash bags, but those are made with corn from crops in mexico and south america, where people are now starving because the main crop they rely on (corn) is being exploited by the green-happy yuppies in north america who, ironically, also demand low prices on their corn bags (which obviously leads to cheap labour and exploitation of workers). Corn oil and corn-based products are just not what they're cracked up to be.
So I dunno... I think grabbing a few bags from the plastic bag recycling bin is a step in the right direction (after reduce, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to reuse, and then recycle?).
I am such a killjoy. woot!
and one tangent because I'm on a rant-roll, here: the thing that got me about the city strike was that people focused on how their garbage wasn't being taken away, and how the city stunk. Yes, it stunk. However, very few people took a second to think that the stinky garbage was their own! They don't have a "right" to produce as much garbage as they want and ruin our environment! And even if they do have that "right", legally, it still ain't right!
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