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environment
May 2009 
Paper or Plastic? Neither!
~C4Chaos
(Crossposted from www.c4chaos.com)
When I had my first grocery shopping experience in Ireland I was surprised that people bring their own bags in the supermarket. Cashiers at the counter don't even ask customers the classic "paper or plastic" question. I became aware that people were charged 20 cents (euro) per plastic bag. My first reaction was, "what the?! I have to pay for plastic bags? in euros no less!" But I soon realized that charging for grocery bags is an excellent approach at promoting sustainability awareness and lessening environmental impact.
"A tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the government says."[see Irish bag tax hailed success]
During my stay in Ireland I got used to bringing our own re-usable bags and even using my backpack whenever we take a trip to the grocery. The initial resistance was just my own knee-jerk reaction to change. Back then I thought to myself, "if this is such a good idea, then how come we're not doing this in the U.S.?"
Enter, Seattle! The success of the Irish bag tax attracted the attention of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and is now proposing to do the same in Washington.
"Next time the cashier says "paper or plastic," think outside the bags. Think about ocean pollution, giant landfills and global warming, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says.
"Then think to next year, when you might have to either pull out a reusable tote or pay 20 cents a bag.
"Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin proposed a 20-cent "green fee" Wednesday on all disposable bags to encourage customers to carry their milk and eggs home in their own bags." [read more]
As expected, there are already knee-jerk resistance from different groups. But in the long run I see this as a beneficial strategy in lessening the pollution of non-biodegradable plastic and energy consumption of manufacturing and recycling of paper.
Based on my positive experience in Ireland and the proven success of the Irish bag tax, I fully support this policy and would love to see it implemented here first, and if proven successful, then in the entire U.S.
By now I'm already used to bringing my own bag to the store. The simple bag tax shifted my perspective. We have to take responsibility and bring awareness to everything we use and consume. It's just common sense to lessen our environmental impact, with our without the threat of global warming.
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Brilliant, really!
I have been using my own bags now for several years, many of our wild birds and other creatures die a slow death by ingesting our plastic and other rubbish, a lot finds it's way down our rivers to the sea.
Great post. My partner and I have been using Chico Bags (www.chicobags.com) for several months and love them. They’re made from recycled parachutes and/or hot air balloons and are very, very durable, well made and great conversation-starters. Now, grocery checkers we see frequently know we have our own bright lime or mango bags and don’t even ask the “paper/plastic” questions. Most grocery stores also return an average of 3 - 5 cents per bag, too.
Spirit Eagle, thanks for the link to chicagobags. they also come in purple. so Gaia-ish :) i think i'll get these reusable bags too!
~C
Chico bags are a great concept, but when i looked at the label i was surprised to see
they are made in CHINA!
Chico is a local college town here in Northern California.
IMO It's unfortunate that the creator didn't take advantage of giving local college students
a chance to make a living keeping production locally.
Manufacturing:
ChicoBags are manufactured by a fair labor, fair wage manufacturing company in China. This allows us to make adopting a reusable bag habit affordable for the majority. Through our interactions and friendships, we believe that we are making a positive environmental and social impact in Asia.
One year ago the town of Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, Canada banned the use of plastic bags. They just celebrated their one year anniverary. The town handed out free reusable bags to help wean the citizens off the plastic. Here's an article about it:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/04/02/manitoba-bags.html
there are also reusable carry bins sold by Maxi (Loblaws), very useful and sturdy
hey guys… thx for chico bag link… i ordered 5: Purple, Black, Pale Green, Blue, Pink
cuz 5th was FREE so i paid only for 4 of them so can give away some like pale green and blue not my colors lol ^.^
also my grocery store will stop giving plastic bags real soon… sec…
ok here is a quote:
By Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Whole Foods Market will have eliminated the use of disposable plastic bags and uses paper bags made from 100% recycled paper, and will encourage customers to reuse their bags. Customers can also purchase “Better Bags” made from recycled plastic bottles and reuse them on each visit. Whole Foods has also replaced all of its prepared foods containers with compostable, non tree-based containers.
^.^
Brilliant. Thank you for posting this. I'm going to share this with our local goverments, cities and counties and the Colorado State Legislature too.
This is such a good idea. I remember to take my own bags about half of the time (which is better than never, I guess). Your post puts the importance of these small acts back into my conscious thoughts. I'm going to try to be better!
~
i just got my new bags ^.^
i just bought two bags from ChicoBag too :)
~C
i just bought two reusuable black bags from Maxi too! So, with my green box, I am well set up to cut down on my use of flimsy wasteful plastic bags. yay!
FYI, the shopping bag fee proposal just got approved! nice.
~C