53 replies to this topic

[R. Paradon]

BuddhaStarlight, on 14 October 2012 - 07:20 AM, said:

How do you fit everything into one bag? When you eat the way we do, we have about 10 bags and we go shopping every few days. It takes a lot when your diet is mostly produce.

At the moment there is only me and i like fresh when I cook so i usually go to the market every other day.  I am a "binge eater" and so if the refrigerator is not too full I don't go crazy!

[Crystal Rose]

adam_a, on 11 October 2012 - 07:46 AM, said:

There is a great documentary called Bag It  that looks at plastics, both bags and other types, and how it affects us. I’m trying to get my local library to screen it on one of their movies nights where they play independent films, kids’ films, and documentaries. It is streaming on Netflix at the moment as well.

Thanks for the suggestion for the documentary, I will be looking it up.  In my neighborhood most of the grocery stores are actually now charging for bags, including paper. However, if you bring your own bag you get a 5 cent credit or if you use one of their bags they charge you 10 cents.  At first this took a bit of getting used to but now I actually prefer to bring my own bag.  Actually I find it sort of fun now because I have a nice assortment of grocery bags and each one is unique and a bit of a fashion statement.  Another nice thing about using these bags is that they are cloth so their handles don't tare like the plastic and paper bags do.

[adam_a]

We have an assortment of canvas bags and produce bags that we bring with us shopping. We also bring various jars and old paper bags for produce. The cashiers hate us but we don't waste anything. All these various containers go over better at farmer's markets and at Whole Foods.

[ChanellG]

I think that cutting down our use of plastic bags is important, but I doubt they will ever go away completely. The best thing we can do is to find ways to reuse them and keep them out of places they don't belong like bodies of water. What I find a worse problem than the bags is styrofoam food containers.

[himanshu500]

I used plastic bags instead of poly bags as they are harmful for the environment.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

himanshu500, on 24 January 2013 - 01:41 AM, said:

I used plastic bags instead of poly bags as they are harmful for the environment.

All plastics are harmful to the environment, no matter what the chemical composition they are made of.
http://2.bp.blogspot...00/plastic1.jpg

http://news.national...pacific_big.jpg

[jeff071]

Sure .I will in fact i already did it,in Philippines where in some part of it are using now cloth bag and some paper bag.

[imgoingeco]

sometimes i forget my cloth bags, but i always recycle any plastic bags I get.  Our garbage hauler accepts the bags now, otherwise most of the stores have drop offs for the plastic bags to get recycled.
The nice thing with our cloth ones is that some of the stores actually provide like a $.10 discount if you use one.  Sure I know it's only 10 cents but that can add up over lots and lots of time :)

[imgoingeco]

Not to double post but I totally forgot to add something...
I was in India a few months back, and there's a portion of the country (Kerala) which is kinda their rainforesty area.  In this area, there's signs and postings all throughout saying "No plastic zone".  It turns out that in this area, no plastic bags are allowed.  So if you buy something and don't have a bag and need one, you get like a cloth like one.  It was refreshing to see that they knew how precious that part of their land was and are trying to keep it a little nicer.  Now if they could work the same in the rest of the country (not that we couldn't use help either!).

[Renzo Tibajia Zafra]

Plastic bags are one of the most longest thing to be recycled, it almost takes 1000 years to recycle itself. Let us other materials and save the earth

[LouisseSantos]

plastic bags is a big problem here in our country but the government working on it. some stores and markets uses paper bags to help the environment.

[jarjap]

We can use plastic bags but to put away plastic bags are not good
in hat bags where we put the food and things.

[Inah Kristine P.]

The No to Plastic Bags should be implemented to the whole world. We all know that plastic bags are one of the main causes of the pollution in the world because of the decomposition of it takes too long. Why use Plastic bags if we can use brown paper bags? It has the same qualifications and just one difference they're decomposition.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Inah Kristine P., on 17 March 2013 - 05:54 AM, said:

The No to Plastic Bags should be implemented to the whole world. We all know that plastic bags are one of the main causes of the pollution in the world because of the decomposition of it takes too long. Why use Plastic bags if we can use brown paper bags? It has the same qualifications and just one difference they're decomposition.

Because too often companies do not replant the trees they cut down for their use.
Reuseable bags are the best option. Most stores (in America at least) have them for .50-$1.00 or can be easily
made from second hand store finds; from t-shirts or skirts.
They are made from sturdier materials and last a long time. Just throw them in the washer when they get soiled.

[imgoingeco]

you can get reusable produce bags.  i know ones that are made by 3B bags.  They're washable so you can bring your produce home wash them and bring back on your next trip to the store

[Shortpoet-GTD]

imgoingeco, on 25 March 2013 - 09:12 PM, said:

you can get reusable produce bags.  i know ones that are made by 3B bags.  They're washable so you can bring your produce home wash them and bring back on your next trip to the store

Exactly.
http://ww1.prweb.com...String Bags.jpg

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Update-
L.A. bans free plastic bags.

Article

[Besoeker]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 26 June 2013 - 04:30 AM, said:

Update-
L.A. bans free plastic bags.

Article

Whilst I take your point, I'm generally not in favour of bans.
I'd rather people exercised good judgement in their choices.

When we shop we take our our re-uasble bags. We have a stash of them in the car boot/trunk.
How much this helps the environment I don't know. At least we don't have to deal with disposal.

For sure it avoids waste and consuming resources and that can't be bad.
But how bad is the problem?
Plastic bags are pretty flimsy and the quantity of material is pretty small.
I just weighed one. It was about 8g. Roughly one quarter of one ounce.

How significant that is in terms of overall pollution I don't know. I suspect that there might be more pressing issues.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Besoeker, on 26 June 2013 - 12:51 PM, said:

But how bad is the problem?
How significant that is in terms of overall pollution I don't know. I suspect that there might be more pressing issues.

[Besoeker]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 26 June 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

Yes, unsightly without a doubt.
My point was about the resources required to produce them rather than the incorrect disposal of them.