America's dirty little oil secret: Plastic Bottles and Bags America consumes 31.2 billion water bottles a year taking 17.6 million barrels of oil to create them. Enough to fuel 1.5 million cars for a year. America consumes 100 billion plastic bags a year taking 12 million barrels of oil. World figures? 154.3 billion water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year.
On Sep 30, 5:20 am, "mike532 [ Republicans for Obama ]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Editorial > No More Plastic > Bagshttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/opinion/30tue4.html?th&emc=th > Westport, Conn., this month became the latest of a handful of > communities to ban some plastic bags. The bags, which have only a > brief, useful life, can survive forever in landfills and are of > enormous concern to not only environmentalists but local officials who > are running out of places to put their trash. > > Westport’s ordinance will take effect in six months and applies to > bags dispensed at checkout counters. Others, like dry cleaning bags, > will be exempted. The aim is to reduce litter and encourage customers > to tote their groceries in reusable cloth bags. > > The town’s stand is laudable but will have only a limited effect on > what is, after all, a statewide problem. The Connecticut Legislature > rebuffed a proposed statewide ban last year. Massachusetts and Maine > considered similar bans and also backed down. > > Americans use and dispose of at least 100 billion bags every year. > Although the plastics industry points out that plastic grocery bags > are made more from natural gas than petroleum, natural gas is not a > renewable resource and contributes to global warming. And about only 5 > percent of all plastic bags are recycled nationwide. The rest end up > in the trash, hanging in trees or floating in water where they menace > marine life. > > There are other possible remedies, including a constructive idea that > has taken hold in Ireland. In 2002, Ireland became the first country > in the world to impose a tax on plastic bags. Use of the bags dropped > by 90 percent, and proceeds from the tax went to environmental causes. > > If Ireland is any guide, tax laws may have greater impact on human > behavior than recycling laws. Tax law could also be written to apply > to an entire state, thus eliminating the need for town-by-town bans. > > More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print > on September 30, 2008, on page A26 of the New York edition. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
