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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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California is the only state with a ban, and it doesn't take effect until July 1, 2015. In Washington DC they have had it since 2009, but are there any farms there? I don't remember seeing any last time I was there. Here in Washington like most other states there are very few cities with a ban, and they are surrounded by cities without them. I would not expect to see bag-free landscapes unless the entire state has banned them.
Boy, if you can think of a way to "fix" lazy careless people you are qualified for sainthood and are smarter than any human ever has been throughout history.
Until then, we have to take what measures we can to begin to solve a problem.
I'd like to see some farm fields in states where the grocery plastic has been banned. If those fields are clear in the Spring, then we will know that banning plastic grocery bags HAS helped to solve a real problem.
So if you live in Washington and whichever other places have a plastic grocery bag ban, go out in the fields in late winter/early spring and tell us what you see!
That would be using our noggins and the scientific method instead of just spouting off our emotions.
I think it might be hard to tell....those bags can travel a long, long way. Midway island in the middle of the pacific has very few people living there.
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Midway Atoll, in common with all the Hawaiian Islands, receives substantial amounts of marine debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Consisting of ninety percent plastic, this debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway. This garbage represents a hazard to the bird population of the island. Twenty tons of plastic debris washes up on Midway every year with five tons of that debris being fed to Albatross chicks.[31] The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates at least 100 lbs of plastic washes up every week.[32]
Of the 1.5 million Laysan Albatrosses that inhabit Midway, nearly all are found to have plastic in their digestive system.[33] Approximately one-third of the chicks die.[34] The reasons for these deaths is attributed to the albatrosses confusing brightly colored plastic with marine animals (such as squid and fish) for food.[35]
Because albatross chicks do not develop the reflex to regurgitate until they are four months old, they cannot expel the plastic pieces. Albatrosses are not the only species to suffer from the plastic pollution; sea turtles and monk seals also consume the debris.[35] All kinds of plastic items wash upon the shores, from cigarette lighters to toothbrushes and toys. An albatross on Midway can have up to 50% of its intestinal tract filled with plastic.[32]
I guess I just dont understand why people are so attached to those plastic bags.... Here in So Cal , it's not like you need them to protect your purchases from the elements. And it's easier, I think to use a cloth tote, throw small items in my handbag , etc than deal with a dozen small items in plastic bags if I'm out running errands.. This morning while my daughter was in preschool, I stopped by Joann's for a pattern and some buttons, Lowes for a specialty lighbulb, the drugstore to pick up a prescription, Cost World Market for the peppermints my husband likes, the dollar store for some greeting cards, Sephora for a lipgloss. At every place, the clerk automatically went to stuff my purchase in a plastic bag even though I had said "I don't need a bag".
The greeners got plastic bag laws passed so it is spreading like wild fire.
They forgot one thing: all year long the stores are selling plastic trash bags, leaf bags, contractor waste bags and so on.
What do people do with their lawn and garden waste? Well, they put it into plastic bags. Should they? No but guess what they actually do? If they weren't doing this then why are places like Home Depot and Lowes and every other home improvement store selling tons of plastic bags?
Once again, the lack of any foresight and planning on the part of do-gooders made sure yet another law and accompanying regulations made the environmentalists feel good but actually accomplished very little.
They got duped by the companies funding the efforts. What was accomplished? Not much other than stores now charging for any type of bag to carry out the very things you pay them for. The plastic bag laws only served to allow stores to charge you for something else.
Proof? Go to a Home Depot or Lowes and watch as some people buy PLASTIC lawn and garden bags and then put them into recyclable bags to carry them to the car. Hello?
I mulch my lawn clippings in place. Garden waste goes into the compost pile. Tree trimming and such is done by professionals, and they put the boughs through a chipper to create mulch. My minimal landfill trash goes into an unlined bin with a tight-fitting lid that is emptied directly into the trash truck. One 40-gallon can every month or so of non-recyclable, non-compostable items.
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Originally Posted by Bakeneko
I don't get why people have to have liners for bathroom trash cans? I don't really end up with trash much in our bathroom cans though.
I've never understood that either. A little bit of floss is usually the only thing disposable in our bathroom. When the shampoo and toothpaste are empty, I just carry them downstairs to wash out before placing them in the recycling. Used toothbrushes go in the cleaning supply bucket for scrubbing tight spaces or into a bin in the linen closet until I'm ready to send them to the Gimme 5 recycling program.
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Originally Posted by PeachSalsa
As far as bathroom trash can liners....women require liners. Women of a certain age have wetter garbage at certain times of the month.
Diva Cup.
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Originally Posted by Jo48
How am I supposed to scoop my cat litter? Cannot put it in the toilet bowl with scoopable litter (clog it), never mind I would have to cyarry it from one room to another. Don't DROP it!!!!! lol
Walk them on a leash outside? POTTY train them?????
I suggest dog waste bags. You can still purchase them, even in places that have banned plastic grocery bags. You'll just have to pay for them now. Chalk it up to the cost of pet ownership.
Last edited by randomparent; 09-22-2014 at 05:21 PM..
The problem with reusable glass bottles is that they are expensive, typically costing more than the product they contain, and they're heavy, which increases shipping costs, and they use a lot of water to clean and sterilize for reuse. That's why the very last returnable Coco-Cola bottle in the US left the market over a year ago.
Single use glass bottles offered a partial solution, being lighter in weight and cheaper to produce, and being made of a highly recyclable material, but seem most acceptable today for beverages and food with reactive contents, like tomato juice and iced tea.
And aluminum cans are fastest to chill, and are the most easily recycled of all beverage containers, but aren't as favorably regarded by consumers.
However plastic bottles are lighter still, essentially unbreakable, and at present, cheaper to produce. And while the material is theoretically recyclable, must people don't cooperate with recycling efforts yet, so the quantities that get recycled are a small percentage of the total sold.
The real breakthrough would be for someone to develop a bottle made from a plant-based material, which would hold up like plastic on the shelf, but break down and compost completely after it had been used.
Do you think people are really concerned with prices if they are willing to pay premium prices for bottled water? The water flowing from most people's faucets meets the standards of that in those $$ bottles. People pay money for convenience and don't care what that costs. Canteens use to be common when one went hiking and were filled with ordinary tap water.
McDonald's coffee is $1 for a large cup and tastes better than a large cup at Starbuck's. McDonald's is convenient but Starbucks makes a statement about yourself. Try both one day and find out.
If one is willing to triple the price of a mere cup of coffee wouldn't they pay for glass bottles?
If people read and understood the science, magic properties of the hemp plant would prove to be great for making plastic which is biodegradable.
Does anybody realize that plastic bags were at a time preferred to paper bags so we can save trees?
That was how they were sold to consumers after the stores had already bought into the fact that plastic bags were far cheaper than paper. At first consumers hated them, so this fairy tale was invented to increase acceptance by the public.
In fact paper is highly recyclable, one of the best, and the trees that paper is made from today mostly are from sustainable tree farms, and is biodegradable, as opposed to plastic bags, which are made from a non-renewable resource, and a widespread source of pollution.
Why would anyone of intelligence argue against reducing the plastic in our waste stream?
I've never understood that either. A little bit of floss is usually the only thing disposable in our bathroom. When the shampoo and toothpaste are empty, I just carry them downstairs to wash out before placing them in the recycling. Used toothbrushes go in the cleaning supply bucket for scrubbing tight spaces or into a bin in the linen closet until I'm ready to send them to the Gimme 5 recycling program.
You wash out toothpaste tubes?
I toss 'em. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles get recycled. Not washed though.
In my bathroom garbage, I have the dental floss picks, qtips, toilet paper for blowing noses, used panty liners, tampons, hair, an occasional "moist wipe" that is not supposed to be flushed.....I prefer the garbage can liners to contain all that.
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Diva Cup.
No thanks. Not for me. Tried it once years ago. Not a fan. Not at all. I'll stick with my tried and true tampons and liners.
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I suggest dog waste bags. You can still purchase them, even in places that have banned plastic grocery bags. You'll just have to pay for them now. Chalk it up to the cost of pet ownership.
Not banned where I live, so I will continue to REUSE my store offered plastic bags.
Afterall, isn't the phrase, reduce, reuse, and recycle? I am reusing.
Yesterday, I reused 4 store bags. The dog pooed 4 (!!!) times, once in the morning when I left him out and then 3 on the afternoon walk (good thing it was not more, cuz I only brought 3 bags along). So 3 bags for the walk and one for the cat litter. I'll scoop the yard this afternoon, cleaning up the dog bombs, both from my dog and those walking by who sometimes seem to leave calling poops, so that will be another one.
I do, because the type of toothpaste I buy comes in a fully recyclable tube. I keep a pair of scissors in the bathroom vanity for cutting open the tube, which allows me to access every last bit of the toothpaste for cleaning my teeth. Then I rinse it out and set it aside for recycling.
Please don't take offense to my previous post. It was merely a list of the alternatives my family practices given an absence of plastic bags. We simply don't use them, and I thought I'd share how we make that work.
The greeners got plastic bag laws passed so it is spreading like wild fire.
They forgot one thing: all year long the stores are selling plastic trash bags, leaf bags, contractor waste bags and so on.
What do people do with their lawn and garden waste? Well, they put it into plastic bags. Should they? No but guess what they actually do? If they weren't doing this then why are places like Home Depot and Lowes and every other home improvement store selling tons of plastic bags?
Once again, the lack of any foresight and planning on the part of do-gooders made sure yet another law and accompanying regulations made the environmentalists feel good but actually accomplished very little.
They got duped by the companies funding the efforts. What was accomplished? Not much other than stores now charging for any type of bag to carry out the very things you pay them for. The plastic bag laws only served to allow stores to charge you for something else.
Proof? Go to a Home Depot or Lowes and watch as some people buy PLASTIC lawn and garden bags and then put them into recyclable bags to carry them to the car. Hello?
I believe the opposition to grocery store plastic bags is that, because they tend to be small and lightweight, they have a propensity to become airborne and potentially end up in waterways. For example, they may end up in rivers or storm drains which drain into the ocean.
On the other hand plastic lawn and leaf bags are larger and thicker. Once filled with leaves and lawn clippings they normally end up in landfillls. Because lawn clippings and leaves are organic materials, they eventually produce methane gas which - at least in the USA - is collected and utilized in a practical manner, normally to produce electricity or at worse, to be flared off.
But you're point is headed in the right direction. The next phase should be the manufacturing and use-implementation of tough biodegradable lawn bags.
I hope this is the last time this needs to be said....
Biodegradable plastic can be made from the hemp plant.
Now you know one of the reasons the US federal government is waging a global war against the plant.
Oil companies and big pharma want no part of a natural substance taking the place of their $$$ products.
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