For the smaller sandwich/storage ones if you get the resealable ones you can wash and re-use them for quite a while. Stick them to the fridge when they're wet and when they fall off they're dry and ready to be used again.
Quoting Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > June 20, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0620/p01s03-woeu.html > > Plastic bag revolt spreads across Britain > > Spurred by a filmmaker's documentary, the English town of Modbury > became the first in Europe to ban them outright. > > By Mark Rice-Oxley | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor > > London > > It was watching sea creatures choke on plastic bags in the Pacific > Ocean that finally persuaded Rebecca Hosking that enough was enough. > > The British filmmaker had already recoiled in disgust at deserted > Hawaiian beaches piled up with four feet of rubbish, the jetsam of > Western consumerism washed up by an ocean teeming with plastic. Now, > filming off the coast, she looked on aghast as sea turtles eagerly > mistook bobbing translucent shapes in the water for jellyfish. > > "Sea turtles can't read Wal-mart or Tesco signs on plastic bags," > fumes Ms. Hosking, who returned to Britain in March. "They will home > in on it and feed on it. Dolphins mistake them for seaweed and quite > often they'll eat them and it causes huge damage." > > Within a few weeks of coming back, Hosking persuaded her hometown to > ban plastic bags outright and found herself in the vanguard of a > sudden British revulsion for that most disposable convenience of the > throwaway society. > > Stores, grass-roots groups, and citizens are joining forces to reduce > national consumption of plastic bags, and Hosking is fielding > hundreds of requests a day for guidance. > > Wave of plastic-bag activism > > Dumbstruck by what she'd seen off the Hawaiian coast during her > year-long filmmaking trip, Hosking set up a local screening of her > film and invited the town's 43 shopkeepers to come see where plastic > bags end up. > > All but seven of them showed up. At the end of the viewing, held in a > local hall, Hosking called for a show of hands in support of a > voluntary ban on plastic bags. Every single hand went up. The rest of > the town's shopkeepers quickly followed suit. On May 1, Modbury won > bragging rights as the first plastic-bag-free town in Europe. > > Now, larger towns and even cities are calling up Hosking to ask how > she did it. Supermarkets and other retailers are experimenting with > plastic-bag-free days, reusable totes, or even buy-your-own bags to > discourage usage. > > Retailer Sainsbury introduced a limited-edition reusable cotton bag > with the logo "I am not a plastic bag," emblazoned on it. Priced at > $10, within an hour 20,000 of them sold out. Others stores are trying > out paper bags and "green" checkout lines for environmentally > friendly customers who bring their own bags. > > Grass-roots campaign > > Another grass-roots action group, We Are What We Do, was surprised by > the strength of feeling on the issue. For a book entitled "Change the > world for a fiver" (five British pounds), its activists asked 1 > million people what their top suggestions were to make the world a > better place. Eschewing plastic bags was one of the most frequent > responses, and is now one of its top campaigns. > > "It's one of the worst indicators of indulgence and excess," says > Eugenie Harvey, cofounder of the group, which seeks to inspire people > to change the world through everyday actions. "In this country, we > [each] use nearly 200 bags a year on average. They can take up to 500 > years in landfill to break down. It's needless waste." > > Hosking adds, "They are the epitome of throw-away living. It's > amazing how many people want to [stop using them], how many towns are > keen to get rid of them. We have had 800 e-mails a day." Modbury is > even organizing for plastic bags to be recycled into furniture to > remove at least some from circulation. > > Yet an awful lot remain. Estimates vary wildly when it comes to > mankind's propensity for the ultimate in convenience shopping. > Environmental groups guesstimate that up to 1 trillion plastic bags > are used worldwide each year. > > In Britain the figure is 8 billion - 134 per person. Some will be > reused or employed as wastebasket liners. But billions end up back in > the environment, fluttering from trees and hedges in China, > disrupting the digestion of Indian cows, scudding along the ocean > floor, and suffocating an estimated 100,000 birds, whales, seals, and > turtles each year. > > Reduced CO2 emissions > > And there is a climate-change dimension as well: Plastic bags are > manufactured using oil. Cutting usage in Britain by a quarter would > reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 63 tons a year - equivalent to > taking 18,000 cars off the road, the government says. > > Some countries have taken decisive action against the plastic bag. > Bangladesh and Taiwan have banned them. Ireland took a much-lauded > step of imposing a tax (?0.15 per bag) in 2002, leading to usage > reduction of up to 95 percent. Next month, California will become the > first US state to force supermarkets to provide recycling bins. > > But so far, despite the growing public clamor in Britain, the > government is showing no signs of introducing a ban or a tax. It > prefers encouraging retailers to sign up to waste recycling > commitments. > > The latest arrangement, agreed in February, commits big stores to > reducing the environmental impact of their shopping bags by 25 > percent by the end of next year. Government minister Ben Bradshaw > called it an "ambitious" agreement and noted that consumers had > become "increasingly aware that they can make positive choices to > help the environment in the way they shop." > > But Hannah Chance, spokeswoman for Sainsbury, a big supermarket > chain, says a total ban is unlikely at the moment. Sainsbury has > tried bag-free days and promoting its reusable "bag for life." > > But Ms. Chance says "it would be too radical to completely remove > them. The plastic bag does have a functional purpose in life. In > cities a lot of people don't have a car. Lots of people use it as a > [trash] bag at the end of the day. It's giving customers things that > are practical." She said they did try out biodegradable bags, but > they weren't strong enough. > > Harvey says that Gordon Brown, poised to take over as prime minister > next week, once declared that governments "respond to the climate > that people create." In other words, as one wag once put it, in order > to lead people in Britain, first find out where they're going and > then walk in front of them. > > But it remains to be seen if enough people will move in this direction. > > Anecdotal evidence would appear to show that those who bring their > own bags to supermarkets with them are still in a minority. > > Campaigners say they hope that by Christmas it will be "as > fashionable to carry plastic as it is to wear fur," but privately > admit that they may have a much longer wait. > > Plastic stats - and solutions > > 500 billion: Number of plastic bags consumed worldwide every year (1 > million per minute) > > 500: Years it takes a plastic bag to decay in landfill > > 167: Bags used annually by the average British consumer > > 4.175 million: "Average" person's plastic-bag legacy, in years > > £64 to £80 million ($127 million to $159 million): Amount British > retailers spend yearly on providing plastic bags to customers > > Countries making headway: > > *Since Denmark introduced a packaging tax in 1994, consumption of > paper and plastic bags has declined by 66 percent. > > *In October 2001, Taiwan introduced a ban on distribution of free > single-use plastic bags by government agencies, schools, and the > military. In 2003, the ban was extended to include supermarkets, > fast-food outlets, and department stores. Customers must now pay NT$1 > to NT$2 (30 to 60 cents) for a bag. > > *The Irish government says that a tax on plastic bags, introduced in > 2002, has cut their use there by more than 95 percent. The "plas tax" > has also raised millions of euros, to be used for environmental > projects. > > *Bangladesh slapped an outright ban on all polythene bags in 2002 > after they were found to have been the main culprit during the 1988 > and 1998 floods that submerged two-thirds of the country. Discarded > bags had choked the country's drainage systems. > > *In 2006, Hong Kong began a voluntary drive to reduce plastic-bag > use. Since then, supermarkets have handed out 80 million fewer > plastic bags.*The English town of Modbury became the first > plastic-bag free town in Europe after all 43 of its independent > retailers committed to banning the bag. > Source: www.wearewhatwedo.org > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
