Tuesday, November 1, 2011

500 plastic bags.



I saw a very disturbing news story on CNN the other night.  Did you know that the average American uses 500 plastics bag a year?  And of those 500 plastic bags, less than 1% are recycled.  And most of those plastic bags end up in the landfills or in rivers or in lakes or the ocean.  Birds and fish and turtles and dolphins and many other animals become ensnared in them or think they are food and eat them, which ultimately kills them.  I'm sorry for all the gruesome, 'Debbie Downer' facts but I believe that ignorance is not bliss and you need to be aware of how your actions effect our planet.  So... how can you help?  Simple.

Stop using plastic bags.

Easy, right?  How crazy is it that we've invented something (among many things) with the sole purpose of being used once.  So ridiculous. 

Being part of the solution is simple!  Bring reusable bags to the store.  Once you get in the habit of having a bunch in your car, you'll automatically reach for them when you go grocery shopping.  If you forget your reusable bags, only buy enough that you are able to carry your items out of the store in your hands (revolutionary, I know).  Or buy another reusable bag!  All grocery stores seem to have jumped on the reusable bag bandwagon and are selling them at the register for $1 or so.  Totally worth it.

Let's all do more.  Even if you don't believe in climate change or the dwindling oil supply or recycling your Diet Coke bottle.  Let's just be more resourceful and respectful of our planet.  Please.


If you want to read more about this or how you can help, check out this guy's website.  His company was featured in the CNN news story.  He's doing great work.  Keep it up, Bag Monster!

Do you use reusable bags?  I'm sure you're not going to say 'Of course not!' after I just finished my soap box speech but if you don't use them, I encourage you to do so!!  It is so easy to do and it makes SUCH a difference.  Don't be one of those wasteful people that uses 500 plastic bags a year.  You are better than that!!


4 comments:

  1. I LOVE MY reusable Trader Joe bags. They're the best and DONT break like most plastic ones do anyway!

    Thanks for posting. The earth is important!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love my reusable bags but I always forget them when I go to the store. However....I always recycle our plastic bags (and my plastic water bottles!)!

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  3. I have a stack of re-usables that I use regularly, but every once in awhile I get plastic so I can re-use the sacks to send home dirty clothes with tot parents or to put really stinky diapers in. If we don't re-use the plastic sacks we recycle them!

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  4. I recycle everything I possibly can. I am however TERRIBLE at using my reusable bags (on the plus side I do reuse my plastic bags...does that count?). Okay, I'm going to do better, pinky promise!

    ReplyDelete

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